The 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge began on Monday with a prologue from the Garden of the Gods to downtown Colorado Springs. Patrick Gretsch of HTC-Highroad won the opening ride with an 8:27 ride, two seconds better than Christian VandeVelde.
VandeVelde's Garmin-Cervelo teammate Tom Danielson is 17 seconds behind at 8:44, good for 20th overall. The Boulder, CO-based Garmin-Cervelo all came within the top 80 racers after the prologue. Tour de France 2011 winner Cadel Evans is in ninth place, though he will now face the challenge of tough climbs on the course. Andy Schleck is 36 seconds behind Gretsch.
Day 2 begins in Salida before the riders face a climb at Monarch Pass, which reaches over 11,300 feet. There will be two sprint sections after the race before they face a climb at Crested Butte to reach the finish line Mt. Crested Butte. For more on this stage, visit USA Pro Cycling Challenge's stage page.
Check out Versus for coverage of this race. Pre-race coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. MT before the scenic routes in Colorado take center stage at 2:00 p.m. MT.
Here is the top 10 leaderboard after Day 1:
| Pos | Rider | Time | Gap |
| 1 | Patrick Gretsch | 8:27 | -- |
| 2 | Christian VandeVelde | 8:29 | :02 |
| 3 | Brent Bookwalter | 8:31 | :04 |
| 4 | Robert Forster | 8:32 | :05 |
| 5 | Jens Voigt | 8:34 | :07 |
| 6 | George Hincapie | 8:34 | :07 |
| 7 | Levi Leipheimer | 8:35 | :08 |
| 8 | Tejay Van Garderen | 8:35 | :08 |
| 9 | Cadel Evans | 8:35 | :08 |
| 10 | Ryan Roth | 8:37 | :10 |
Stick with this StoryStream for more on the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge.