Chris Jones Diary, where the Yellow Devil makes an appearance and comments about his scuffle with Lance Armstrong.

Bike World News has an Tour of California Photo Contest. Submit your photos, win a prize.

As far as I’m concerned, Ken Conley wins the prize. Below is a sample, but see all of his photos at his website.

Photo by Ken Conley

Graham Watson has some pretty good photos, too.

I was supposed to interview Phil Southerland of Team Type 1 today. He called me early this morning before the stage start when my cell phone battery died. Aaagh! We’ve rescheduled for tomorrow morning, and Kristian will take a couple of photos of Phil for me.

Photo by Ken Conley

Enthusiastic crowds turned out at the start of the race today in Visalia as race leaders Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Astana, Michael Rogers (AUS) of Team Columbia-Highroad, David Zibriskie (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream and Lance Armstrong (USA) of Astana led the peloton into Stage 5 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. Equally impressive crowds lined the streets in Paso Robles to witness the incredible sprint to the finish line that saw Mark Cavendish (GBR) of Team Columbia-Highroad take his second consecutive stage win in the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. Leipheimer maintained the overall lead after coming in 15th place in the longest stage of the race. Day six of the 2009 race included no King of the Mountain competitions, but two sprint competitions on a flat, fast day of racing that took the riders from Visalia to Paso Robles.

Moving into second and third overall were Rogers and Zabriskie, respectively.

“This was the day that I was planning on winning this year,” said Cavendish. “It was a hard day; harder than expected. It seems like they’ve replicated the Tour de France with the speed and the par course. It has been incredibly hard.”

Photo by Ken Conley

Team Columbia-Highroad again delivered Cavendish to the finish line at the front, where he sprang off the lead-out wheels to win with ease. And once again it was Quick Step’s Tom Boonen (BEL) who finished second in the stage, just ahead of Pedro Horrillo (ESP) of Rabobank.

“This stage win is massively important,” added Cavendish. “Any stage in the Amgen Tour of California is big. It’s big for the team, and this one is a bit more personal because it’s close to home. Every other stage is important, but this one is a bit more personal.”

Despite the apparent ease of victory for Cavendish, it was a long, hard stage for him and the rest of the field. A six-man group escaped only seven miles into the 134.3- mile route from Visalia to Paso Robles, with early attacks led by Jelly Belly’s Matthew Crane (USA), who was eventually joined by Jeff Louder (USA) of Team BMC, Robert Gunn (AUS) of Fly V Australia Powered by Successful Living, Glen Chadwick (NZL) of Rock Racing and Cameron Evans (CAN) Ouch Presented by Maxxis.

Cruising through the flat San Joaquin Valley floor under sunny skies, the escapees steadily opened the gap to a maximum of eight minutes mid-way through the race, with Astana leading a steady tempo in the field. At 50 miles to go, Quick Step, Team Columbia-Highroad and Saxo Bank began sharing the load at the front, and the time differential decreased rapidly. The breakaway splintered under the pressure, with Chadwick being the last one reeled in with less than three miles to go, when Team Columbia-Highroad led Cavendish to take over.

With the sun hanging high in a flawless baby blue sky in Paso Robles, all of the top riders finished in the main group, completing a long, flat stage leading into the critical Individual Time Trial in Solvang tomorrow.

Photo by Ken Conley

It’s going to be a big showdown tomorrow,” said two-time defending champion and overall leader Leipheimer. “You have the three-time World Champion Michael Rogers and Dave Zabriskie, the National Champion, so it will be special. I’m actually really looking forward to it. I feel good; I’ve felt great throughout the whole race. I feel pretty awesome about keeping the lead.”

There were only two changes in the jerseys today, with Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer™ Most Courageous Rider Jersey going to Matthew Crane (USA) of Jelly Belly Pro Cycling and the Herbalife Sprint Jersey going to Cavendish. The other jersey winners remain unchanged with Leipheimer in the Amgen Leader Jersey, Robert Gesink (NED) of Rabobank in the Rabobank Best Young Rider Jersey and Francisco Mancebo (ESP) of Rock Racing in the California Travel & Tourism Commission King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey.

“The crowds today in Paso Robles were absolutely amazing,” said Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports. “It was great to see such an enthusiastic response from a new host city. We had a great race today, and the best part is, it is still anyone’s race tomorrow. Tomorrow should prove to be a critical day for the world-class cyclists and a remarkable day for the spectators who come out to see the always popular time trial.”

Amgen Tour of California Stage 5

A breakaway of Cameron Evans (Ouch), Pieter Weening (Rabobank), Matthew Crane (Jelly Belly) that was eight minutes in front of the peloton was caught three miles from the finish as the peloton went crazy for a chaotic sprint finish. Cervelo Test Team and Columbia High Road kept it together, with Columbia delivering their man Mark Cavendish to the front of the field for his second win in a row.

Tom Boonen (Quick Step), Pedro Horrillo (Rabobank), Francisco Chichi (Liquigas) and Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) all followed Cavendish across the finish about a full bike length back. Unlike yesterday, Cavendish waited until after he crossed the finish before lifting his arms from the bars. The spectators in Paso Robles were treated to an exciting finish.

Mark Cavendish will wear the green sprinter’s jersey tomorrow. Levi Leipheimer retains the yellow jersey for the time trial Friday in Solvang.

Amgen Tour of California Merced to Clovis

Today’s stage resulted in several riders dropping out, including Oscar Freire, Kim Kirchen and Scott Nydam as they crashed on the hilly roads of the Sierra Nevada mountains. A three man breakaway of Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank), Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing) and Serge Pauwels (Cervelo Test Team) that began before the first KOM worked together to hold the peloton back. The peloton roared through Clovis at better than 30 mph to catch the breakaway within a few short kilometers of the finish.

Cervelo jockeyed to position Thor Hushovd for a win when several sprinters rocketed through the bunched peloton, with Tom Boonen and Mark Cavendish going neck and neck across the finish line for a photo finish.

UK track champion Mark Cavendish (Colubmia High Road) took the podium by inches today, with Tom Boonen beside him for second place. JJ Haedo took third place, followed by Thor Hushovd and Tyler Farrar. The GC top five stays unchanged, with Levi Leipheimer retaining the yellow jersey.

Watch for more updates through the evening at Steephill.TV.

Flickr shows you where you can find many Amgen Tour of California photos.

My photography for this year’s Tour is over, but you can find plenty of good photos at Ken Conley’s website.

Photo by Ken Conley

Steve Hill also has photographer Mike Norris covering the tour this year over at Steephill.TV. Mike’s a really nice guy. I first met Mike when he passed by me in Menlo Park last year. You can find Mike’s photos on Flickr here.

If you’re looking for updates on the MASH SF fixed gear team, they’re still riding the course. Josh Kadis is following them and posting updates on their progress on his Twitter feed. The Clif Bar blog is also supposed to be posting updates, though it looks like they’re too busy to post for now.

Finally, I need to give a shout out to Kristian Hansen of Trackstand.com, who’s graciously shooting some photos I requested. You can find his photos at Flickr.com/Trackstand.

A day of heavy rain, wet roads, strong crosswinds and multiple crashes and a long five man breakaway concluded with Thor Hushovd taking the win today. It was an amazing sprint finish by the entire peloton as they fought for the podium in the final stretch on the drenched roads of Modesto.

Photo by Ken Conley

The breakaway might have been safe from the peloton if not for Mollema, who was only two and a half minutes behind race leader Levi Leipheimer. This risk that Mollema could take the jersey away from Leipheimer ensured the breakaway’s failure, which was captured and swallowed up by the peloton inside of the city of Modesto.

In spite of the soaking rain, the crowds in Modesto were shoulder to shoulder, shouting enthusiastically and rattling their cowbells. It’s good to see that kind of support for professional cycling in the Central Valley.

Oscar Freire of Rabobank and Mark Renshaw of Columbia followed Hushovd in for their places on the podium today. There’s no change in the GC: Levi Leipheimer retains his yellow jersey for the trip from Merced to Clovis, with Astana still dominating in the top 10 with Lance Armstrong in fourth place and Chris Horner in fifth. Better weather is expected for the rest of this week — Hurray!

Floyd Landis before the start in San Jose.

Tyler Hamilton signs an autograph for a young fan in San Jose this morning.

See a great list of links to news, results, photos and video (including Levi’s crash video today) over at Steephill.TV.

Visit Bike World News for Chris Jones’ Diary. Chris Jones is a rider for Team Type 1 — he’s posting daily journal entries to Bike World News.

Ken Conley has uploaded Stage 3 photos to kwc.org.

Props to my buddy Kristian of Trackstand.com, who’s taking a couple of photos for me tonight.

The 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 3 runs from San Jose to Modesto today.

The riders are expected to reach the Sierra Road King of the Mountain (KOM) point about 30 minutes after their noontime start in downtown San Jose. They’ll reach Patterson Pass at about 2 PM, reach Tracy sometime between 2:30 PM and 3 PM, and reach Modesto sometime after 3:40 PM with the finish 10 to 15 minutes later.

Viewing suggestions:

• Downtown San Jose. The neutral start parade laps around downtown San Jose are a crowd pleaser and ensure several good chances of seeing the racers pass by. They start on Almaden at San Fernando, turn right on Santa Clara, right on Market, left on Park, then back to Almaden to the start line.
  
  Downtown San Jose Tour of California Stage 3 Start

• Sierra Road Sierra Road is closed to auto traffic, but if you start early enough you can ride your bike up their for viewing along this hill climb. They’re going uphill early in the race so you probably won’t see a lot of drama, but it’s an excellent chance to see the cyclists as they pass by.
• Patterson Pass Another good location is anywhere on the uphill side of Patterson Pass Road east of Livermore. You probably don’t want to watch on the downhill — they zip by so fast that you’ll miss them even if you don’t blink.
• Central Valley towns If you live in the Central Valley cities and towns that the peloton travels through, those are always good places to catch them.
• Modesto finish line Find a good spot out of the rain to wait for the racers to arrive. The peloton comes into Modesto on Kansas Avenue. They’ll cut left on College, right on Coldwell, right on Sycamore, left on Needham, right on 16th and right on I for the circuit. The racers will do ride two laps around central Modesto before finishing at I and 12th.