BMC's Brent Bookwalter is the new leader of the US Pro Tour Challenge race after taking victory on stage two.
The second stage which had BMC's Taylor Phinney in the race lead was a 186km race from Steamboat Springs to Aprahoe Basin saw ten riders in Nathan Brown (Cannondale-Garmin), Kyle Murphy (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Daniel Summerhill (UnitedHealthcare), Will Routley (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Robin Carpenter (Hincapie Racing Team), Eric Marcotte (Team SmartStop), Carson Miller and Gregory Brenes (Jamis - Hagens Berman), Steve Fisher (Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis), and Daniel Barry (Team Budget Forklifts). attack early
Will Routley of Optum was first over the first climb of the day - the Rabbit Ears Pass, where the altitude was around 9,500 feet about sea level, as their lead went out to 5.10 with 55kms gone.
The gap started to drop thanks to a headwind and it was down to 3.10 when Robin Carpenter took the sprint at Kremming.
As the leaders started on 22kms of dirt road, there were ten riders out front before Routley took the second sprint and the lead group dropped to nine riders.
Nathan Brown, the most aggressive rider of the stage and Greg Daniel decided to attack with Brown taking the final sprint in an attack which saw them some 20 seconds ahead of a six man chase group and 2.16 ahead of the peloton.
They started on the final climb which started with 7.9kms to go. Brown put in an attack but this time Daniel was not able to respond and away he went as the race leader in the yellow jersey was losing more and more time and dropped off the back of the peloton.
Brown stayed away until Rohan Dennis brought up a six man group which included Robbie Squires, Jonny Clarke and Brent Bookwalter and Englishman Hugh Carthy and they caught him with less than seven hundred metres to go.
Avoiding the idiots running in thr road, Dennis led out Brent Bookwalter and he rode into the lead of the race with a victory in 4.37.04 with Dennis in second and Carthy of Caja Rural in third place, followed by Jonathan Clarke, Rob Squire, Lachlan Morton, Jaime Roson, Davide Formolo, Julian Arredondo and Julien Bernard of Trek Factory Racing.
The second English rider in the race Teo Geohahgen-Hart finished 15th.
Brent Bookwalter now leads the race by six seconds from his team mate Rohan Dennis and Bookwalter told his team's press office: "These guys were riding like machines all day.
"They were incredible. I had to keep telling them to slow down and not bring the break back too quickly. They were hurting me when they were surging over the climbs. I didn't really feel great all day, but I think a little bit of that was the attitude. It was actually nice to get to that last climb and have Rohan put the hammer down. Then it was simple: hold the wheel, ride as hard as we can and it's done. There is no more conserving at that point."
Dennis said: "I saw on the TV screen that Brent was sort of next to me, so I tried to get on him.
"But he went straight past me and got into position to win. It is great we went 1-2, and I sort of surprised myself. I rode pretty well from the bottom to the top, and I was expecting to blow with at least three kilometers to go when people started attacking."