Tommaso Twitter UpdatesTour of California!
Here's the story!
;) |
Landis stays aero, even in a tight corner |
photo: Casey B. Gibson |
"Did I get it?" he asked his team helper.
"We'll find out in a minute," he was told, knowing he had already beaten stage favorite Dave Zabriskie of CSC by half a minute and that Discovery Channel's race leader George Hincapie was about to finish.
"How's Levi?" Landis asked about Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer, who started the day just four seconds out of first place.
"37:05," was the answer.
"What was I?" Landis continued.
;) |
Zabriskie was second, 26 seconds slower than Landis |
photo: Casey B. Gibson |
"Oh, well," Landis said with a grin, "that took care of that!"
At that moment, Hincapie was heading up the flat finish straightaway, urged on by an enthusiastic crowd of a couple thousand. He was coming through later than he had to if he were going to retain the overall lead. The time flashed up above the finish line: 36:53. Almost a minute back. Landis was the new owner of the Amgen golden jersey.
;) |
Hincapie, fourth at 55 seconds, is still honing his time-trial skills |
photo: Graham Watson |
"Everything we're doing here is the first effort of the year," he pointed out. "I'm pleased though. I was fourth (behind Landis, Zabriskie and Bobby Julich). And those guys are all [time trial] specialists ... and I'm trying to become one. Give me a little time and I'll get there."
;) |
It wasn't Leipheimer's day, out there in the wind - he finished ninth at 1:16 |
photo: Casey B. Gibson |
Unlike time trials that these Americans contest in July's Tour de France, where thousands of fans urge on the riders every meter of the way, Wednesday afternoon's stage saw each man racing in a virtual vacuum. This was particularly true on the mostly flat final 11km, after the panhandle-shaped course turned left into a head wind following a technical up-and-down opening loop.
The California Highway Patrol had pretty much sealed the course, so few spectators ventured beyond the start and finish areas ... unless they arrived early in the day. With no crowds to shield the wind, the lighter riders had a hard time keeping their form all the way to the finish.
The first man to shine on this stretch was 59th starter Fabien Cancellara of CSC. The big Swiss, winner of the 2004 Tour prologue in Liège and a Paris-Roubaix specialist, set the standard at 37:01. His time was almost matched by Discovery's young Russian sensation, Vladimir Gusev, but the first to beat Cancellara was a very determined Nathan O'Neill of Health Net-Maxxis.
The 31-year-old Aussie blazed home in 36:55. "I knew that the wind would be a factor," O'Neill told VeloNews, "so I didn't force it too much on the hills in the early part of the course. I rode it fairly steadily, but not ridiculously hard, you know. I never killed myself early, and I knew that the final 10K was going to be critical."
;) |
Rogers, resplendent in the rainbow stripes, finished 26th at 2:18 |
photo: Casey B. Gibson |
Leipheimer, 24 seconds back after the two main climbs, was clearly on a bad day. "I wasn't feeling it today. I couldn't get going. I kind of knew when I woke up I wasn't having a good day."
Things got worse for the Gerolsteiner man. "The last 12km, it just wasn't my thing," he said. "I'm 60 kilos (less than 135 pounds), and it's a head wind, dead flat. It's hard for me to compete against the bigger guys. That's just the way it goes."
Zabriskie, who many riders had tipped to win Wednesday, also suffered toward the end. "It was all right, but I didn't really find that great of a rhythm," he said. "I pushed a big gear, and tried to go fast. I'm surprised I did as well as I did."
;) |
Danielson, 12th at 1:43 |
photo: Casey B. Gibson |
With Landis having a strong Phonak team at his disposal, and with an overall lead of 29 seconds on runner-up Zabriskie, many are saying the race is over.
"It looks to me like Floyd's got it," said San Francisco prologue winner Leipheimer. "There's no one left that can really challenge the GC, so I think it's pretty much finished."
Zabriskie opined: "I think Floyd has got a lot of friends in the race."
But Zabriskie's senior CSC teammate Julich was more hopeful. "It's going to be hard to get back that kind of time, but we'll try," he said. "Phonak has a lot of work ahead of them, but so do we. And I'm sure Discovery, after getting blanked today, will come out ripping tomorrow.
;) |
Even when suffering, Horner smiles |
photo: Casey B. Gibson |
Two-time Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni (Saunier-Duval-Prodir) missed his start, reportedly because his time-trial bike was under the UCI's minimum weight. Scott USA marketing director Adrian Montgomery said that team mechanics scurried to add a water-bottle cage to Simoni's bike to reach the UCI minimum of 6.8kg, or 14.96lbs.
"The mechanics didn't have their scales in the trucks like they do in Europe," Montgomery said. "To be honest, they didn't think it would be that big of a deal here in California. But the time-trial frame only weighs 980 grams, and if you use the wrong combination of lightweight wheels you can easily go under the limit." Or over it - Simoni lost nearly two minutes as a consequence of his technical difficulties and finished 105th on the day, at 5:27.
What's next
Stage 4: Monterey to San Luis Obispo - The queen stage of this year's race begins in Monterey and follows scenic Highway 1 where the mountains run into the Pacific Ocean. At 130 miles, this is the longest stage of the tour and will test the riders on consistently hilly and technical terrain. The six-hour day will see riders go through the community of Big Sur and pass by Hearst Castle before shifting inland toward the finish in San Luis Obispo. A series of climbs before the finish could bring fireworks.
-VeloNews senior writer Neal Rogers contributed to this report.
Results are posted. To see how the stage developed, simply CLICK HERE to bring up our Live Update window.
posted by Randall Scott Company @ 9:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home