It's been an incredible week following the 2012 USA Pro Cycling Challenge across the state of Colorado. My Dad and I rented an RV van and set off south last Friday. There will be plenty more to come from me about our travels over the past week but I had to post this frame tonight.
The final stage of the USA Pro was a time trial through the streets of Denver. Towards the middle part of the time trial Freddy Piamonte, a Colombian rider who races for the EPM-UNE cycling team, took a nasty crash on the final turn of the course, spilling himself into the orange barricade fencing and sending his bike flying across the road into the lane where the riders were starting out from. Following that, he was given a new tire and gamely got back on the bike and finished the race.
Towards the end of the stage as the leaders were coming home, one of the EPM-UNE managers came strolling up the course with either another spare tire or the bent tire that Piamonte replaced. I'm not entirely sure which tire it was because the second I saw him lift up the tire as Tejay van Garderen took his final turn and dashed towards the finish line I snapped off 3 frames. The tire may appear to be bent, but again I can't tell for sure.
We were positioned right at the intersection of Colfax and Broadway, so we were able to see riders just taking off, riders coming by about 8 minutes in, and riders coming home down the final stretch. It was a pretty solid position for a photog who didn't have an official credential, and I came away happy with what I got.
There's more to come, stay tuned.
