Starting the 2012 USA Pro Challenge with a road race instead of 2011’s Prologue means the competition is wide open starting on the first day. Often an opening road stage can be tame, but this is anything but, with challenges coming nearly right away. Starting with a 5 mile loop that encompasses most of town, and the Tour’s first Sprint Line of 2012, the riders head up hill and out of town past Fort Lewis College and toward Telluride. After a second Sprint Line in the town of Dolores, racers will start a gradual canyon climb that lasts more than 30 miles, eventually taking them up and over Lizard Head Pass at 10,222 feet. After the climbers’ first test of the week they take a 15 mile descent into the narrow streets of Telluride to finish stage one and the first 125 miles of the race.