Top cyclists confirmed for USA Pro Cycling Challenge

Six of the top 13 cyclists in this year's Tour de France will compete in Colorado this month in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

The racers will speed down Ute Pass and through Garden of the Gods to a dramatic three-lap finish in downtown Colorado Springs on Aug.l 24.

Organizers are calling this year's field on of the best ever for a professional cycling race in the United States.

The race begins Aug. 20 in Durango and continues through the week, ending with a Stage 7 time trial in Denver. See maps of the stages and read more about this year's race at the USA Pro Challenge page at OutThereColorado.com.

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing), Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), Janez Brajkovic (Astana), and RadioShack-Nissan-Trek riders Andreas Kloden and Chris Horner finished among the top 13 in July's Tour de France.

The race will be the final competition for fan favorite George Hincapie and the return to racing of 2011 Tour de France winner Andy Schleck, who is recovering from a severe crash earlier this summer.

See photos from the 2011 race!

“The talented group of international and domestic cycling stars set to participate in the 2012 USA Pro Challenge is a testament to the growing stature of the race,” Shawn Hunter, CEO of the Pro Challenge, stated in a news release. “With Olympic medalists and Tour de France champions battling it out in the Rockies, this field is one of the best that has ever competed on American soil. The competitive level of this field is going to make for seven days of nonstop action; it’s going to be one great week of cycling.”

The USA Pro Challenge will include 10 of the top 12 finishers from the inaugural race, including the top 5 riders.

Another featured rider and fan favorite is Boulder resident Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing), who recently secured two fourth-place finishes at the London Olympics.

Three of the past four USPRO National Champions will race: Tim Duggan (2012), Ben King (2010) and George Hincapie (2009).

Two Giro d’Italia winners – Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, both riding for Liquigas-Cannondale – also are expected to compete.

The elite professional roster of teams, which includes 126 riders from 24 countries, is comprised of six teams that competed in the Tour de France, five Pro Continental teams and five Continental teams.

Following is the preliminary complete list of riders that will be competing in the 2012 USA Pro Challenge.

UCI ProTeams

Astana Pro Team (KAZ)
Janez Brajkovic (SLO)
Sergey Renev (KAZ)
Tanel Kangert (EST)
Robert Kiserlovski (CRO)
Dimitriy Muravyev (KAZ)
Yevgeniy Nepomnyachshiy (KAZ)
Evgeny Petrov (RUS
Fabio Aru (ITA)

BMC Racing Team (USA)
Cadel Evans (AUS)
Mathias Frank (SUI)
Ivan Santaromita (ITA)
Michael Schär  (SUI)
Johann Tschopp (SUI)
Taylor Phinney (USA)
George Hincapie (USA)
Tejay Van Garderen (USA)

Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda (USA)
Thomas Danielson (USA)
Tyler Farrar (USA)
Nathan Haas (AUS)
Alex Howes (USA)
Peter Stetina (USA)
Christian Vandevelde (USA)
David Zabriskie (USA)
Lachlan David Morton (AUS)

Liquigas-Cannondale (ITA)
Timothy Duggan (USA)
Valerio Agnoli (ITA)
Damiano Caruso (ITA)
Edward King (USA)
Paolo Longo Borghini (ITA)
Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)
Ivan Basso (ITA)
Moreno Moser (ITA)

Omega Pharma-QuickStep (BEL)
Levi Leipheimer (USA)
Martin Velits (SVK)
Peter Velits (SVK)
Matt Brammeier (IRL)
Jeroen Hoorne (BEL)
Francesco Chicchi (ITA)

RadioShack-Nissan-Trek (LUX)
Christopher Horner (USA)
Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)
Andy Schleck (LUX)
Benjamin King (USA)
Andreas Kloden (GER)
Thomas Rohregger (AUT)
Jens Voigt (GER)
Oliver Zaugg (SUI)

UCI Professional Continental Teams

Champion System Pro Cycling Team (CHN)
Craig Lewis (USA)
Chris Butler  (USA)
Matthias Friedmann (GER)
Pengda Jiao (CHN)
Biao Liu (CHN)
Aaron Kemps (AUS)
Cameron Wurf (AUS)
Gang Xu (CHN)

RusVelo (RUS)
Matvey Zubov (RUS)
Ivan Rovny (RUS)
Dmitry Kozontchuk (RUS)
Artem Ovechkin (RUS)
Sergey Firsanov (RUS)
Arkimedes Arguelyes Rodriges (RUS)
Alexander Mironov (RUS)
Sergey Klimov (RUS)

Team SpiderTech powered by C10 (CAN)
David Boily (CAN)
Flavio de Luna (MEX)
Lucas Euser (USA)
Caleb Fairly (USA)
Hugo Houle (CAN)
Ryan Roth (CAN)
Zachary Bell (CAN)
Brian Vandborg (DEN)

Team Type 1-SANOFI (USA)
Kiel Reijnen (USA)
Alexander Efimkin (RUS)
Julien El Fares (FRA)
Javier Megias Leal (ESP)
Georg Preidler (AUT)
Rubens Bertogliati (SUI)
Alessandro Bazzana (ITA)
Daniele Colli (ITA)

UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team (USA)
Rory Sutherland (AUS)
Karl Menzies (AUS)
Philip Deignan (IRL)
Robert Forster (GER)
Jacobe Keough (USA)
Benjamin Day (AUS)
Christopher Jones (USA)
Jeffry Louder (USA)

UCI Continental Teams

Bissell Pro Cycling (USA)
Christopher Baldwin (USA)
Jeremy Vennell (NZL)
Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA)
Carter Jones (USA)
Frank Kevin Pipp (USA)
Eric Young (USA)
Julian Kyer (USA)
Joseph Schmalz (USA)

Bontrager Livestrong Team (USA)
Joshua Atkins (NZL)
Charlie Avis (USA)
Lawson Craddock (USA)
Joseph Lloyd Dombrowski (USA)
Ryan Eastman (USA)
Connor O’Leary (USA)
James Oram (NZL)
Gavin Mannion (USA)

EPM-UNE (COL)
Rafael Infantino Abreu (COL)
Giovanni Manuel Baez Alvarez (COL)
Francisco Jarley Colorado Hernandez (COL)
Ramiro Rincon Diaz (COL)
Robigzon Leandro Oyola Oyola (COL)
Freddy Orlando Piamonte Rodriguez (COL)
Eduard Alexander Beltran Suarez (COL)
Javier Eduardo Gomez Pineda (COL)

Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies (USA)
Jesse Anthony (USA)
Andrew Bajadali (USA)
Alexander Candelario (USA)
Michael Creed (USA)
Tom Zirbel (USA)
Sebastian Salas (CAN)
Marsh Cooper (CAN)
Michael Friedman (USA)

Team Exergy (USA)
Kirk Carlsen (USA)
Andres Diaz Corrales (COL)
Mathew Cooke (USA)
Noe Gianetti (SUI)
Morgan Schnitt (USA)
Fred Rodriguez (USA)
Serghei Tvetcov (MOL)
Sam Johnson (USA)

The teams will be introduced to fans Aug. 18 at the official gala and team presentation in Durango. Celebrity hosts Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and local Durango cycling hero Bob Roll will introduce the riders during a dinner. Tickets are available at www.Durango2012.com.

Stages for the 2012 USA Pro Challenge:
Stage 1: Monday, Aug. 20 – Durango to Telluride
Stage 2: Tuesday, Aug. 21 – Montrose to Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte
Stage 3 : Wednesday, Aug. 22  – Gunnison to Aspen
Stage 4: Thursday, Aug. 23 – Aspen to Beaver Creek
Stage 5 : Friday, Aug. 24 – Breckenridge to Colorado Springs
Stage 6 : Saturday, Aug. 25 – Golden to Boulder
Stage 7: Sunday, Aug. 26 – Denver Individual Time Trial