Follow USA Pro Cycling Challenge by TV or online videostreams this week

The return of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge rolls out over the high mountain passes of Colorado starting Monday.

The 7-stage tour features Levi Leipheimer in his starring role as defending champion and veteran George Hincapie in his swan song performance in professional cycling.

A host of other big-name pro cyclists will co-star, including 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans, former Giro d’Italia winners Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso, and top-ranked Americans Tejay Van Garderen, Christian Vande Velde, Chris Horner, Taylor Phinney, and David Zabriskie, among others.

Viewing

Cycling fans who can’t make it to the lofty heights of the Rocky Mountains can watch the action live on TV and online streaming.

Online viewing is available at the USA Cycling Challenge RadioShack Tourtracker. The feature offers live video from the race, commentary, as well as the ability to follow positions of the leaders and peloton on a course map. Viewers who log in can also share their wisdom in chat rooms.

The NBC network will carry the first five days of racing on its NBCSports cable affiliate. The final two days will air live on the NBC network. See times below.

Cyclists

Just because the bicycle race is on US soil, that doesn’t mean Americans are a shoo-in for victory. That’s been proven repeatedly at the Amgen Tour of California and just last week at the Tour of Utah, where Switzerland’s Johann Tschopp (BMC Cycling) beat Matthew Busch (RadioShack) by 43 seconds.

Leipheimer has to be a favorite, but so does Tschoop, Van Garderen, and Evans. Those final three are members of the BMC Racing team, said to be the strongest at the race.

Another member of that team is Hincapie, who is making this his final race in a career that spans three decades and includes 17 Tour de France finishes, the most ever. He was qouted in the Vail Daily News:

“I did consider stopping after the Tour de France and making that my last race. But I really wanted to have my last one be in the U.S. I felt like Colorado has become quite a big and important race on the calendar, so the opportunity was there to have the USA Pro Challenge be my last one. It’s certainly meaningful to end my career in the U.S.”

Another veteran cyclist, Germany’s Jens Voigt of the RadioShack team, was asked about retirement at a USA Cycling Pro Challenge press conference on Saturday.

“That’s not in my vocabulary. Sorry.”

TV schedule (Mountain Standard Time)

Times listed are for pre-race show; race coverage starts :30 later. Also, a post-race show will air every night at 8 p.m.

Monday, Aug. 20 — NBCSports; 1:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 21 — NBCSports; 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 22 — NBCSports; 1:30 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 23 — NBCSports; 1:30 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 24 — NBCSports”; 1:30 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 25 — NBC; 11:30 a.m.

Sunday, Aug. 26 — NBC: 11:30 a.m.

Stage list (Mountain Standard Time for start and estimated finish times)

Monday, Aug. 20 (10 a.m. – 3:50 p.m.) — Stage 1: Durango to Telluride

Tuesday, Aug. 21 (11:25 a.m. – 3:50 p.m.) — Stage 2: Montrose to Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte

Wednesday, Aug. 22  (10:10 a.m. – 3:50 p.m.) — Stage 3: Gunnison to Aspen

Thursday, Aug. 23 (11:35 a.m. to 3:50 p.m.) — Stage 4: Aspen to Beaver Creek/Vail Valley

Friday, Aug. 24 (10:50 a.m. – 3:50 p.m.) — Stage 5: Breckenridge to Colorado Springs

Saturday, Aug. 25 — (11:10 a.m. to 3:55 p.m.) Stage 6: Golden to Boulder

Sunday, Aug. 26 —  (1 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.) Stage 7 (ITT): Denver

The current roster as provided by USA Cycling 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)