March 21, 20082 Comments on Tour de France: Slipstream/Chipotle is in!
Yesterday’s news: I forgot to hit the “PUBLISH POST” button on this yesterday!
I’ve got to run, but here’s the news. It’s not entirely unexpected, but this is a really big deal.
March 20, 20084 Comments on Tour de Georgia teams announced
The Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T announced the all 15 teams that will participate in the six day stage race this year beginning April 21. The UCI ProTour teams to participate will be Astana Cycling Team,
Saunier Duval-Scott, Team CSC, Team High Road, Team Gerolsteiner. Of the eight UCI Continental Teams invited to the race, two are from outside the United States — Symmetrics Cycling is based in Canada, and the Continental Asia team GE/Marco Polo Cycling Team presented by Trek is from China. The remaining continental teams from the United States are Bissell Pro Cycling, Health Net presented by Maxxis, Jelly Belly Cycling Team, Jittery Joe’s Professional Cycling Team, Team Type 1, and Toyota-United Professional Cycling Team.
Michael Ball’s Rock Racing was not invited to the race. Rock Racing has a full racing schedule for 2008, but fans, unfortunately, will not be able to see the famous Mario Cipollini who announced his retirement from professional cycling, this time apparently for real. Cipo expressed disappointment at his performance in the Tour of California.
While I’m writing about pro cycling, I guess I should pass on the old news that California-based Computer Sciences Corporation has decided not to continue their sponsorship of Team CSC after the 2007 season. This will be the third UCI ProTour team without a title sponsor, after Astana and High Road.
Visit Steephill.TV for more details on the Tour de Georgia.
February 24, 20084 Comments on 2008 Tour of California Stage 7: Bad weather, great racing
Another nasty day of cold rain punished the peloton as they rode from Santa Clarita to Pasadena in Stage 7 today in the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. In the end, a five man breakaway battled it out in the final kilometer, with George Hincapie winning Team High Road’s first stage win in this final stage. Rory Sutherland (Health Net), Jason Mccartney (CSC), Michael Creed (Rock Racing) and Tom Zirbel (Bissell) all followed Hincapie across the finish line, with Cavendish leading the field across about 10 seconds later.
Astana demonstrated incredibly tight teamwork to protect their team captain and helping him win the Yellow Jersey for this year’s tour.
The 2008 Tour is one for the history books, with a virus, rain and cold plaguing the riders and staff for the entire week. I hope you had a chance to watch online via the Tour Tracker or to catch the highlights on Versus TV. You can find links to archived video for all of the stages at Steephill.TV. Click through to The FredCast for podcasts highlighting each stage of the tour and interviews. For Tour of California photography, visit KWC’s Spare Cycles 2008 Tour of California gallery.
Thanks for following the action on Cyclelicious!
February 23, 20088 Comments on Team High Road Stage win, NOT! 2008 Tour of California Stage 6 report
What an incredible sprint finish! As the 6th stage of the Amgen Tour of California wound down in Santa Clarita, several cyclists went on the attack. David Millar (Slipstream Chipotle) bridged up from the peloton to the break when Team Astana took notice and attacked to catch the breakaway and prevent #2 Millar from taking the yellow jersey from Levi Leipheimer. After the pack caught up and passed the breakaway it was every man for himself as the cyclists fought for a place at the podium.
In the end, Mark Cavendish pushed his way to the front to get High Road’s first stage win at the 2008 Tour of California. It looks like Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval) has second and JJ Haedo (CSC) has third place. Levi Leipheimer still holds the yellow jersey as he goes into the final stage tomorrow that starts in Santa Clarita.
Update: As BGW notes in his comments, Cavendish was penalized for drafting a team car in the aftermath of a crash that took out four Rock Racing cyclists. The podium first place went to Brazilian sprinter Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval), with JJ Haedo now in 2nd and Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) in third.
February 22, 20084 Comments on 2008 Tour of California Solvang report
Levi Leipheimer in Solvang – Photo courtesy Ken Conley
Levi Leipheimer (Astana) came in strong in the individual time trial today, coming in 29 seconds ahead of sprinting champion David Millar (Slipstream Chipotle) and extending his overall GC lead. Slipstream’s Christian Vandevelde rounded out the podium at 31:31. Two other possible contenders for the yellow jersey, Fabian Cancellara (CSC) and David Zabriskie (Slipstream) came in fifth and sixth today on the Solvang time trial.
In spite of yesterday’s brutal weather and less than ideal conditions today, Levi did fairly well coming in at 30.47, just over a minute over his time last year.
VeloNews: Leipheimer comes through.
Road Bike Review: Tour of California page.
Stage 5 full results at Cyclingnews.com.
Steephill.TV summary, commentary and links.
KWC looks like he got his camera working: Levi wins in Solvang again.
David also got a Stage 4 report out for the FredCast while recovering from surgery!
My wife knows some of Jackson Stewart’s family. Stewart is on the mend but they have requested prayer for him. As you know, Jackson Stewart was hospitalized yesterday for hypothermia during the cold and wet race down the Central Coast in Stage 4.
The Tour of California starts in Santa Barbara on Saturday and will travel to Santa Barbara for Stage 6.
Photo: Fans show their support for Levi Leipheimer in Solvang. Photo from Amgen Tour of California.
February 21, 20082 Comments on Tour of California Stage 4 results: Seaside to SLO
The Seaside to SLO leg follows the scenic California Central Coast, but the riders in stage 4 of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California enjoyed none of the views as they slogged through dreary, cold rain and constant headwinds, keeping the pace under 20 mph for much of today’s long stage. The racers finally finished after over seven hours on the road, well after the anticipated 4 p.m. finish time.
A break that eventually consisted of Edward King (Bissell), Roman Kilun (Health Net p/b Maxxis), Dominique Rollin (Toyota – United), Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team), Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), George Hincapie (High Road) and Iker Camano Ortuzar (Saunier Duval-Scott) moved ahead of the peloton. Rollins attacked beginning about 45 minutes from the end, pulling away from the breakaway as Hincapie and Camano work to reel him in. Rollins, a continental team rider, managed to hold off two seasoned Euro pros and took the stage win today has he went solo across the finish line 18 seconds ahead of Hincapie and Camano.
Team High Road got three of the top five spots as Gerald Ciolek and Mark Cavendish came in fourth and fifth place. I’m certain the cyclists are glad today’s stage is over.
KWC: Miserable day for all, Rollin gets revenge on Hincapie.
Bicycle.net: Dominique Rollins wins Stage 4; Hypothermic: Jackson Stewart abandons, rushed to hospital; War of attrition,
Steephill.TV Stage 4 summary and collection of links to video and other resources.
It was painful watching today’s stage — I could almost feel the discomfort as they rode through the miserable rain and their soggy kit clinged to their arms. The stomach bug that took Tyler Farrar out yesterday apparently hit several other riders, mechanics and support staff, making the long ride even longer and more miserable for them. Several cyclists dropped out.
Levi retains the yellow jersey going into Stage 5 on Friday. His team protected his yellow jersey and apparently held back just a little when they didn’t attack the breakaway and finishing over 2 minutes behind the leaders, probably to save their legs for the 15 mile individual time trial in Solvang. Still, Thursday was brutal for all of the cyclists and Friday is supposed to be another windy day so Stage 5 should be interesting to see.
I’ll grab some quotes from the riders and update this post later tonight. I’m sure there will be some good ones so check back here at Cyclelicious for the updates.
Stage 4 top 10 winners
1. ROLLIN Dominique – Toyota United
2. HINCAPIE George – High Road
3. CAMANO ORTUZAR Iker – Saunier Duval
4. CIOLEK Gerald* – High Road
5. CAVENDISH Mark* – High Road
6. HAEDO Juan Jose – CSC
7. RODRIGUEZ Freddie – Rock Racing
8. CANDELARIO Alexander – Kelly Benefit – Medifast
9. TURGOT Sébastien – Bouygues Telecom
10. CIPOLLINI Mario – Rock Racing
General Classification top 10 after Stage 4
1. LEIPHEIMER Levi – Astana
2. CANCELLARA Fabian – CSC
3. GESINK Robert* – Rabobank
4. MILLAR David – Slipstream Chipotle
5. LARSSON Gustav – CSC
6. ZABRISKIE David – Slipstream Chipotle
7. VANDEVELDE Christian Slipstream Chipotle
8. HORNER Christopher – Astana
9. MOOS Alexandre – BMC
10. PENA GRISALES Victor Hugo – Rock Racing
Photo Credits: Dominique Rollin Win by Ken Conley; Wet Astana Peloton captured from Amgen Tour of California Adobe Tour Tracker video stream; Rollin Podium my Ken Conley.