Blog Posts From Active Expert: Bruce Hildenbrand Tagged With amgen_tour_of_california

Organizers Unveil route of 2010 Amgen Tour of California

Bruce Hildenbrand — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:23:48 GMT

On October 22nd the organizers of the Amgen Tour of California(AToC) unveiled the 2010 route and, not surprisingly, it was very similar to the route described in my blog at:

http://community.active.com/blogs/BruceHildenbrand/2009/10/05/2010-tour-of-california-route-fact-trumps-speculation

There are several items worth adding. First and foremost is that Lance Armstrong has apparently made his decision whether to ride the AToC or the Giro which had conflicting dates. The good news is that Lance has said that he will be on the start line in Nevada City when the AToC begins on Sunday May 16th.

Lance's participation in the AToC is a huge boost to the race which has been extremely popular, but has yet to show a profit for AEG, the event's owner. Having Lance on board will give the AToC it's best chance at success. Rumor has it that if the race doesn't show a profit this year, AEG may decide to either sell the race or disband it.

Another interesting observation is that there will be a lot of climbing and, finally, a mountain-top finish. The queen stage of the race is stage 6 from Pasadena to Big Bear Lake which is rumored to contain over 13,000 feet of climbing. Unfortunately, the Station Fire, which ravaged a portion of the San Gabriel mountains may prevent the stage from climbing up to the Angeles Crest Highway.

However, if that hurdle is cleared, look for the very challenging stage to begin with a massive, 5000+ foot climb from Azusa on Highway 39 to the Angeles Crest Highway. This ascent, known locally as 'Cloudburst', is very similar in length and percent grade with the big, legendary climbs of the Tour de France like the Col du Tourmalet or Col du Glandon.

Once the race reaches the Angeles Crest Highway, there is a about 1500'-2000' of up-and-down ridge riding on the way to Wrightwood. If the race descends from Wrightwood all the way down to San Bernadino, the final ascent to Big Bear Lake is 5000+ feet. Though the grade of this climb is a bit shallower than 'Cloudburst' look for major fireworks on the long grind uphill to the finish.

With a 30-mile, flat time trial the next day in Los Angeles and a tough circuit race featuring the 2-mile, 10% Rock Store climb the final three days in the 2010 AToC will be nothing short of spectacular. Three-time AToC champion Levi Leipheimer is clearly one of the favorites, but with the switch to a May time frame he might find a few more competitors with potential race-winning form. On paper it looks to be a very exciting race.

Bruce

Route of 2010 Amgen Tour of California Revealed?!

Bruce Hildenbrand — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:36:36 GMT

Details of the route for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California(ATOC) are leaking out bit by bit though the official announcement is scheduled for sometime next week (October 6?). As was announced earlier this year, the race will move from February to May with the 16th to the 23rd being the proposed dates.

It appears that the race will start in Sacramento, but unlike last year when the stage was a very short prologue, the course will most likely be a road race up into the Sierra foothills that begins and ends near the Capitol.

The next stage is rumoured to include Levi Leipheimer's home town of Santa Rosa.Given that Santa Rosa is over 100 miles from Sacramento, the stage will most likely finish in Levi's hood, a potential start city could again be Davis, the new home of the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.

It is not clear if the race will visit the San Francisco Bay Area, but what seems to be clear is that Yosemite Valley will be on the agenda. One proposed route could be from Merced to the Yosemite on Hiway 140 and then a return on Hiway 41 to a finish in Fresno or Clovis, where there was a stage finish last year.

The 2010 race route was supposed to be announced just before Interbike last week, however, last minute logistical hassles, mostly like dealing with the race entering Yosemite National Park, caused a postponement until next week.

The town of Bakersfield will host either a stage start or more likely a stage finish as the Rabobank Arena, owned by the race's third most important sponsor behind Amgen and Herbalife, is located there.

Another stage finish is scheduled for downtown LA at the Staples Center which is owned by AEG the owner the Amgen Tour of California and is the home of the LA Lakers.

The first ever mountain top finish for the Tour of California is penciled in for the village of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernadino Mountains. Sitting at 6000' above sea level, any route up to this ski resort town will include a major climb.

The usually decisive time trial stage will follow the finish in Big Bear Lake and is slated to be a 29-mile test in Venice, just west of LA, on the Pacific Coast.

The race is not scheduled to visit the San Diego area in 2010; the final stage will most likely end in Thousand Oaks the hometown of the race's primary sponsor Amgen.

So, there you have it. Mix speculation with rumour, add just a hint of fact and you have the route of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California. Well, maybe!?!?

Bruce

Stage 7: Contador Soars; Armstrong's Form Looks Good

Bruce Hildenbrand — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:39:17 GMT

Alberto Contador put his stamp on the 2009 Tour, attacking the elite group of overall contenders with two miles(3km) remaining to the finish at Arcalis in Andorra. Many speculated that Contador, in an attempt to keep team harmony at Astana, would only follow an attack by another squad's overall contender such as Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck or Carlos Sastre. But, after Cadel Evans had tested the waters with 2.5 miles remaining and had been easily brought back by both Contador and Armstrong, Alberto launched his convincing attack.

The gap quickly went out to double digit seconds, but seemed to stabilize at around twenty seconds as Evans led the chase. Garmin-Slipstream's overall favorite Christian Vande Velde signaled his return to top form by launching an attack out of the Evans-led group just under the red kite. He was brought back and he, Evans, Armstrong, Leiphimer and Andy Schleck all finished together 21 seconds back of the Spaniard.

While the race for overall was going on down the road. Brice Feillu of the French Agritubel squad won the stage. He was part of a large breakaway group that had a ten minute lead as the race entered Andorra. He attacked with about five kilometers remaining and held off all his break-mates. As a bit of a break from form, he forgot to zip up his jersey to acknowledge his sponsors as he crossed the line.

One side effect of the large time gap given to the breakaway was that Rinaldo Nocentini, who earlier this year won the Pasadena stage of the Amgen Tour of California, inherited the yellow jersey ahead of Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong. Contador has only a two second lead over Armstrong on general classification, though with the strength he showed in the closing kilometers, he looks to be a tick better than Armstrong on the climbs.

But, after struggling to stay in the lead group at the Giro d'Italia, it is a testament to Lance's form that not only did he finish in the lead group, but he easily neutralized Cadel Evans' attack and looked very relaxed in the drag over the final kilometers to the line. Based on how good he looked, it is a distinct possibility that Lance was playing the good teammate and forcing the others to chase Contador.

It was another exciting stage. Even though Contador appeared to have the upper hand on Armstrong, those who doubted Lance as a true contender may well be silenced. It was also very gratifying to see Christian Vande Velde back up with the leaders after his horrible crash in the Giro. Christian's teammate Bradley Wiggins also climbed well. More on his transcendence soon.

Stage winner Brice Feillu.

Popovych leads Lance and Alberto with about 4km remaining.

Andy Schleck, Bradley Wiggins, Andreas Kloden and Frank Schleck.

Sergio Paulinho has done his work at the front and is now just riding to the finish.

Lance Wants Tour of Colorado

Bruce Hildenbrand — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:19:25 GMT

While Lance may not be making big headlines on the bike at the Giro, what he is doing off the bike is generating some exciting news. To be fair, Lance did not come into the Giro in peak form and he is showing that he is the master of the three week race by riding within himself in Italy so he can go the full distance and not burn out too early.

It was reported last week in several Colorado newspapers that Lance had called Governor Bill Ritter to sound out the Governor on the potential of putting on a Tour of Colorado much like the Amgen Tour of California. Last summer Lance bought a house in Aspen and has been using that dwelling for his altitude training. Lance and many of us remember the glory days of the Coors Classic and the possibility of re-capturing those magical times is a huge motivation to bring big-time bike racing back to Colorado.

At this time the idea is only in the 'trial balloon' stage. My guess is that Lance was just testing the waters to see how receptive the Governor's office was to the idea as the state is key to pulling off such an event. It would most likely be 2011 at the earliest before any race could happen.

In the past several years, Medalist Sports who run both the Tour of California and the Tour of Missouri has been working with a group in the Vail Valley to bring a 3-4 day professional stage race to Colorado, but that event has yet to be held. Hopefully, Lance will have more success.

My rumours and speculation on some of the details of the new professional team run by Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong generated lots of comments. Remember, the details of the team are all just speculation at this point.

One alternate scenario that is emerging is that the team will continue as Team Astana until after the Tour which would mean that Lance, Alberto and Levi would all be racing together in France in July. One good reason to keep the current squad intact through July is that if a new team emerges after the Giro, but before the Tour, it is not clear if that team would be allowed to start the Tour de France.

Given that the French National Anti-Doping Agency(AFLD) backed off on the "Showergate" incident, it seems clear that the French want Lance to start to the Tour. So, if the new team did emerge before the Tour there is a good possibility that a number of rules would be bent to allow them to participate.

My guess is that since Lance and Johan are pretty smart guys they have already contacted the Tour organizers and asked them if their new team would be allowed to start. The answer to that question will probably determine when the new team emerges.

We live in very interesting times!

Bruce

2010 Amgen of Tour of California Targets May Dates

Bruce Hildenbrand — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:20:37 GMT

The Amgen Tour of California(AToC) is moving its races dates for the 2010 edition to May 16-23. After two soggy years of racing the event organizers were looking for a change and after discussing the possibility of April, May or June dates with the UCI, the organizing body of the sport, it was decided that a mid-May date worked best with the existing professional calendar of events.

Also included in the news was the fact that in 2011 the AToC will most likely become a Pro Tour(PT) event meaning it will rank up there with the top professional races on the globe. If you are a Pro Tour team that's a good thing as now that it is a PT event, more PT teams can compete. Currently, as a non-PT event only half the field can be PT teams. If you are a US domestic pro team the change is not a good thing as with the inclusion of more PT teams, less US domestic teams will be invited.

This might seem like a bad thing, but if you look at the results from the AToC from 2009 there was a significant performance difference between the PT and non-PT teams. Clearly, this is not an ideal situation. Hopefully, this will motivate the US domestic professional teams to raise their game.

The May date still has the ability to attract top European riders. The only competition on the schedule is the Tour of Italy and while many top riders would potentially be competing there, the AToC offers good preparation for riders looking to ride the Tour de France and not desiring to ride a three-week race like the Giro as part of their program.

Also a possibility if the race moves to May is an incursion or two into the high Sierra Nevada mountains. Unfortunately, tackling the Sierras does not guarantee the AToC's first ever mountain-top finish as there are few towns in the mountains that can come up with the cash necessary to pay for a stage finish. If the race goes up and then back down into the Central Valley look for the same sprint finishes we experienced this year. Something is going to have to change with the race's business model before we will ever see a real mountain-top finish.

Overall, this change is a good thing for the race. The weather will almost surely be better and the best professional teams will still participate (though they may need some financial incentives to fly so far west in May). In it's short, 4-year history the race has shown that it can change and adapt to make itself a better event. Keep it coming!

Bruce

Amgen ToC - More Photos

Bruce Hildenbrand — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:59:08 GMT

I shot a bunch of photos from the ToC that didn't make it into my blog. Here are a few of the more interesting ones, well that's my opinion.

Bob Roll doing his best Gene Simmons impression.

Stage 8 winner Frank Schleck.

Freddie Rodriguez warming up for the prologue with his son Hayden.

Chris Horner getting ready to launch out the gate at the prologue.

Some guy named Lance.

Enjoy,

Bruce

Amgen ToC - Levi Does the Three-Peat

Bruce Hildenbrand — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:10:36 GMT

The 2009 Amgen Tour of California ended today and Levi Leipheimer locked up his three-peat. Leipheimer was clearly the strongest rider in the race, he proved it on the climbs and in the TT's which is where stage races are won. It was a great event, race organizer AEG estimated that two million people watched the spectacle live, obviously countless more viewed it on TV as the feed went out to 60 countries across the globe. It is safe to say that in just four year, this race has grown exponentially in size and stature and is truly one of the best events on the pro cycling calendar. Yes, there are some issues such as whether the race should move to a more weather-friendly date and if it should become a Pro Tour event, but there is no doubt the 2009 edition was an unqualified success.

Race notes:

In my report from yesterday, I noted that the final stage would be difficult, but not decisive. That was indeed the case, but there was one incident high on the slopes of Palomar Mountain that deserves some discussion. About three miles from the top of the massive 4200' climb, Jens Voigt, who was placed fourth overall about one minute behind Levi, broke away from the peloton and took a group of riders with him. Because Jens had a teammate in the group and the group was about five riders, there was a real chance that if they could work together, they might threaten to stay away to the finish and change the overall outcome of the race.

What happened next is the interesting part. The rider who initiated the chase of Voigt and who ultimately drove the chase group to catch Jens and his crew was Michael Rogers of team Columbia High Road who was in third place overall. Also in the chase group was Dave Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream who was in second place overall. With those two guys in the chase group, Levi jumped up there as well. Unfortunately, Levi didn't have any teammates in the chase group while both Rogers and Zabriskie had one each.

This may seem like a huge tactical error by Levi and his Team Astana because they allowed Levi to be isolated in a group with his closest rivals. However, it was really a very big tactical error by Michael Rogers. Because the time gaps between the first five riders were so small, if Jens Voigt and his group succeeded in staying away, Voigt, who was in fourth place, threatened not only Michael Rogers' third place and Dave Zabriskie's second place, but he also threatened Levi's race lead. That means that it was really the responsibility of Leipheimer's Team Astana to chase down Voigt and not Michael Rogers.

Looking at the bigger picture, Roger's should have seen Voigt's escape not as a need to defend his third place position, but as an opportunity to attack the race lead of Leipheimer. Instead of initiating the chase and driving the group up to Voigt, he should have sat at the front of the peloton and forced Team Astana to chase Voigt. Then, once that chase and catch has been performed and Team Astana was tired from the effort, he then could launch a counter-attack and try to get away.

The fact that Rogers decided to defend his third place and not attempt to go for the win might indicate that he felt Levi was too strong to be beaten, but in any case, he should have left the chasing up to Team Astana.

Dave Zabriskie rode tactically correct when he was in the chase group. He sat on Levi's wheel looking for any weakness and if Leipheimer had faultered, it would have been a perfect scenario for Dave to attack him and go for the overall win. Dave Z did it right, Michael Rogers didn't. Well, that's the way I saw it.

Bruce

Amgen ToC - Difficult Does Not Necessarily Mean Decisive

Bruce Hildenbrand — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:07:04 GMT

Today was a day for the lesser-placed riders as a group of ten broke away from an Astana-controlled peloton to take the glory at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. This is a great segue into the theme of this posting which is, a stage may be difficult, but it is not necessarily decisive. I think that observation applies to Stage 4 from Merced to Clovis, today's stage from Santa Clarita to Pasadena and the final stage tomorrow from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido.

All three of these stages contain a lot of climbing. On paper, none of these climbs is exceptionally steep, but at the speed the pros are capable of riding up these ascents all of them can be very, very difficult. So, I don't think anyone isn't saying that these stages are an easy day for a lady. Quite the contrary. The real question from a racing standpoint is, are these stages decisive?

By decisive I mean will they have an affect on the race's overall standings? Unfortunately, in the case of these three stages, the climbs come too early in the day's ride. As we have seen many times before, a well-driven peloton can chase down a breakaway as long as the gap isn't too large. So, all the peloton needs to do is give the riders off the front some rope and they can reel them in.

In the case of today's stage, the ten-rider breakaway did not contain any riders who could threaten Levi's overall lead so Team Astana smartly allowed them some rope and the stage win. No harm done and Levi will be in yellow tomorrow. Also, it is a good idea to let other teams have their day in the sun. Greed doesn't make too many friends.

So, while a stage may be difficult, the position of the climbs has a huge affect on whether the stage will also be decisive. Stage 2 into Santa Cruz was decisive because the climb of Bonny Doon Road occurred so close to the finish. Stage 1 into Santa Rosa should not have been a decisive stage, but two factors, the fact that the breakaway containing Mancebo was allowed to get way too much time and the sanfu with the radio communications made it a decisive stage. Which goes to prove that even a difficult, non-decisive stage can become decisive if unforeseen factors intervene. That's what we call bike racing.

Bruce

Race Notes:

You finally say Christian Vande Velde(Garmin-Slipstream) at the head of affairs.Christian was on the podium last year, but has been pretty invisible this year. I asked his team director, Jonathan Vaughters, why Christian seemed to be auditioning for a remake of Casper the Friendly Ghost. Jonathan said that last year, the team was bidding for a wild card entry into the Tour de France so they needed to shine in the early season to impress the selection committee. This year, as a Pro Tour team, they are guaranteed an entry into the Tour so they are bringing Christian along a bit more slowly so he will be ready to fly come July.

I caught up with Michael Barry of Columbia-High Road at the TT. Michael and I have known each other for years so I can say this publicly, he looked like death warmed over. I asked him why and he said that he and teammate Adam Hansen have the job of looking after Mark Cavendish. What this means is that on the stages with climbs, when Mark gets dropped, Michael and Adam have to drop back and then pace Mark back up to the peloton after the climb is over. Then in the last two hours of the stage, they have to go to the front and ride tempo to bring back any breakaways. That's a tough way to make a living! Luckily, Michael and Adam are pretty good at it. Just look at the results.

It was great to see Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing) off the front in the breakaway today. Chris is a multi-national champion in the time trial so yesterday in Solvang, it should have been his day to shine. But, because his teammate, Oscar Sevilla, was in a position to take a high overall place, Chris had to hold back in case he needed to ride at the front to defend Sevilla's position. After his ride, Chris said it was very difficult to hold back in his specialty.

Amgen ToC - Stage 5 - Cav Times Two

Bruce Hildenbrand — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 07:00:43 GMT

Mark Cavendish won his second stage of the Amgen Tour of California (AToC) in as many days once again besting Tom Boonen. The Columbia-High Road sprinter won the race's longest stage at 134 miles, but all eyes were looking southward toward Solvang where the most decisive stage of the race, a 15-mile individual time trial, will most like decide the winner of the 4th edition of America's biggest and best race.

While two-time overall champion Levi Leipheimer goes for the three-peat, the big question is whether Team Astana boss Johan Bruyneel will let Lance Armstrong go all out in the time trial. There may seem to be an obvious answer to the question, but with two difficult days in the mountains looming, Lance may need to save his strength to be able to defend Levi's jersey.

That, of course, is assuming that Levi keeps the jersey. He has owned the Solvang TT since its inception and his fitness and drive seem to indicate that he will continue his domination. With Lance as the closest placed teammate in fourth, just 30 seconds back, it might make sense to play it safe and let Armstrong go full gas. If Levi flats, crashes or just has a bad day, having someone who can step in and take over the race leadership is a big plus. That's exactly the role Levi played for Alberto Contador in last year's Vuelta a Espana. Levi finished second overall, but if Contador had come to grief, Team Astana would still have won the race. After all, it is all about the team.

However, if Levi does ride to the level we can expect, Lance may be needed to help defend the jersey in the final two days. If you remember the 2007 Tour of California, Jen Voigt was in second place behind Levi going into the time trial. The German went all out and almost won the race. But, in 2008, Jens held back inthe time trial because his teammate, Fabian Cancellara, was in second place to Levi and if Cancellara beat Levi and took the jersey, Jens' strength would be needed to defend the jersey.

All this discussion may be moot because Team Astana is the strongest squad in the race and even if Lance does go full gas, rider like Yaroslav Popvych, Jani Brajkovic, Chechu Rubiera and Chris Horner are clearly capable of working at the front to keep the jersey on Levi's shoulders.

Personally, I would like to see Lance unleashed just to see what he can do and where his fitness is at this time of year. I think Levi is a tad bit stronger than Lance so I still see Leipheimer winning, but a one-two finish is not out of the question.

Also, I like both Mic Rogers and Dave Zabriskie, the riders in second and third place overall and hope that they both ride well. It might be a bit too early for Rogers to ride the type of time trial we expect from a three-time World Champion in this discipline, but you never know. Dave Z is supremely motivated to do well, I hope he can pull out a good ride and keep his spot on the podium.

Bruce

Sort of race notes:

Here are photos of some of the spectators along the course:

AToC - Stage 1 - Mother Nature Rules - Part 2

Bruce Hildenbrand — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:27:14 GMT

The 2009 Amgen Tour of California sloshed into Santa Rosa and it was Rock Racing's Francisco Mancebo, of Spain, who was off the front for 102 of the 107 miles in this stage, taking the victory. On a day when the elevation profile looked to allow the field to re-group after each of the three moderate climbs, mother nature, some dodging radio communications, and some last minute modifications to the race rules conspired to give Mancebo the opportunity to take the stage and potentially the overall Tour of California title.

Because of the cold, rainy conditions the peloton allowed Mancebo, Tim Johnson (Ouch Medical) and David Kemp(Flying V Australia Successful Living Foundation) to breakaway only five miles into the stage. Poor communication from race radio, which keeps the teams up to date on the time gaps for breakaways, allowed the gap to grow to epic proportions. When Mancebo attacked his two companions and went free over Howell Mountain, that information was slow in reaching all the other teams. When word did get back to the pack, Team Astana went ballistic and shattered the field over Howell Mountain putting five of its riders in the 20-man chase group. Armstrong, Leipheimer, Horner, Rubiera and Jani Brajkovic spent the better part of an hour and a half trying to bring back Mancebo.

When the race entered the streets of Santa Rosa, a territory quickly becoming known as the Bermuda Triangle of UCI race regulations, the officials decided to take the finishing times at the start of the first of the three finishing circuits. This decision, which was made sometime during the course of the stage basically robbed the chasing teams of about 7 miles of extra distance in which to try bring back Mancebo.

OK. We can all debate the advantages and disadvantages of race radios(personally, I don't like them), but the current rules allow them, maybe this time around it was a case of those who live by the radio, die by the radio. In any event, the overall standings of the AToC have been turned completely upside down. Mancebo is a good time trialist, but Levi Leipheimer has owned the Solvang TT the past two years and if Levi doesn't lose anymore time to Mancebo between now and then, the 1'02" he is down to Mancebo could easily be won back with a standard Leipheimer TT effort. For that matter, any of the 19 riders in the chase group who are now within about 1'30" of Mancebo are still in the hunt and could win the overall with a superb TT effort.

Here are some photos of the race. I was playing around with soft focus a bit, please bear with. Graham Watson and I are good friends because 1) he can drink me under the table with one hand tied behind his back, 2) I am not going to be taking any food out his mouth with the cycling publications.

Here is a shot of Mancebo on the finishing circuits out in front solo.

Lance, with Horner on his wheel, are chasing hard.

After he crossed the finish line, Mancebo headed down my way. Ben Delaney, Editor of VeloNews, and I were the first to approach him, but he wanted to do the interview in Spanish so we decided to leave it to the interpreters this time.

Race Notes:

On Saturday night, thieves broke into the Team Astana's bike trailer at the Residence Inn Sacramento and stole the first four bikes in the line-up. Taken were Popovych's, Brajkovic's and Morabito's road bikes as well a Lance's one-of-a-kind TT bike on which he had just finished 10th that day in the prologue. Luckily, all the riders had spare bikes, but the team had to borrow three road bikes from Trek Travel for additional spares for Popo, Jani and Steve to have on top of the car for the day's stage.

I talked with Ben Coates who is the liaison with Trek for the team and who was upset that the incident occurred. He was upbeat that this situation would demonstrate the advantages of US-made Trek bicycles in that replacement frames were in the process of being painted and sent out in the next few days to the team.

Bruce

Amgen ToC - Stage 1 - Mother Nature Rules - Part 1

Bruce Hildenbrand — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:44:50 GMT

The first road stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California(AToC) is underway and it is pretty clear that Mother Nature is the #137 rider in the peloton. Leaden skies poured buckets of rain on the racers and spectators as they rolled out of Davis for a 107-mile test on their way to Santa Rosa. The conditions rivaled the now legendary stage to San Luis Obispo. Rain is almost acceptable; cold is tolerable, but cold, rain is just not all that much fun. All whining aside, these guys are pros and darn good ones so they all "manned up" and headed out. Here are some photos from the mornings festivities, so to speak.

Here is a shot of the boys rolling out. Race leader Fabian Cancellara is in the middle with the the orange Oakley Radar frames. On the far right is Saxobank's Stuart O'Grady. In the Liquigas green is Ivan Basso. Jens Voigt is leading the pack and on Jen's right(photo left) is Chris Horner and Tyler Hamilton. The gold helmet just over Horner's right shoulder belongs to Lance Armstrong. If they look like they are having fun to you, you must be wearing the racing equivilent of 'beer googles.'

Have you ever wondered how those great TV pictures come to you everyday on Versus TV? Here's the reason why. Greg Peterson has been doing live TV camera work since the Coors Classic, Tour DuPont and now Tour of California. On a rainy, cold day like today it's tough work for Greg. He lamented that, even if the pictures can't be beamed up to the airplane which transfers the signal to the TV trucks, he still has to shoot. So, some of his most difficult work never gets seen.

The money man behind the Garmnin-Slipstream team is Doug Ells. Not only has he been a major reason why Jonathan Vaughter's squad has quickly risen to the ProTour ranks. Doug is also a passionate cyclist and was planning to ride the entire Stage 1, but the weather forced a change in plans.

With the economic downturn the team sponsored by Rock and Republic jeans, Rock Racing, was rumoured to be disbanding. Here is a message from the side of the team bus for all the Rock Racing fans and doubters.

And just to put an exclamation point on the message team member Francisco Mancebo has been off the front since the beginning of the stage.

If you are a reader of European and US cycling magazines, you have undoubtedly seen photos by Cor Vos. He no longer rides on a photo-moto, but here he is enjoying some fine Norther European weather.

AtoC Race Director, Jim Birrell, appropriately retired, but wondering when the sun will finally start to poke through.

Bruce

Amgen Tour of California Rocks Sacramento

Bruce Hildenbrand — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 04:46:01 GMT

The fourth annual Amgen Tour of California (AToC) began on Saturday with best field of riders for a US race in the past 20 years. Yes, Lance was here, but so was Olympic and World Champion Fabian Cancellara, sprint phenom Mark Cavendish, double Paris-Roubaix winner Tom Boonen, Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso, Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis, three-time World champion Michael Rogers, US National Champions Tyler Hamilton and Dave Zabriskie, etc, etc, etc.

Not surprisingly, Fabian Cancellara duplicated his win from last year in the prologue with Levi Leipheimer and Dave Zabriskie rounding out the top three. Lance Armstrong met his pre-prologue goal of finishing in the top ten, but with time gaps in the tenths of second, this 2.4 mile test just wetted everyone's appetite and did little to determine who will be the overall victor come next Sunday.

Threat of poor weather may dampen the next few days racing, but a crowd estimated at 50-100,000 was all cheers as the race wove its course around the Sacramento state capitol building. Below is a photo essay, of sorts, of the happenings during the prologue.

Phil Zajicek of the Flying V Australia presented by Successful Living Foundation team was the second of 136 riders to start. Here he concentrates on his pre-ride preparation.

Team Saxobank rider Fabian Cancellara gets ready to fire out of the start house on his race-winning ride.

After a three year absence from racing, Lance Armstrong turns his first pedal in anger on US soil.

Floyd Landis had lots of support from fans in Sacramento.

Yes, there were a few celebrity sightings as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dr. McDreamy helped hand out the awards.

In case you needed proof that Lance Armstrong is one of the most tested cyclists, here is the list of riders, by race number, for anti-doping control. This is Lance's 19th test since he announced his comeback. He wears bib #2.

Bruce

2009 Amgen Tour of California Preview

Bruce Hildenbrand — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:57:10 GMT

The 2009 Amgen Tour of California(AToC) starts on Saturday (it's my valentine this year) and looks to be an E-ticket ride for a whole host of reasons. First off, Lance is back in the saddle and unlike the recently concluded Tour Down Under in Australia, he will be riding to help his teammate Levi Leipheimer's quest for a three-peat. That means you won't be seeing Lance hanging out in the back of the pack working on his tan. He will have to be on the front or off the front to be an effective domestique.

But it is not all about Lance as a number of very accomplished professionals are in attendance. The aforementioned Leipheimer, of Team Astana, looks very good for a three-peat, but Garmin-Slipstream's Christian Vande Velde, who finished fourth overall in last year's Tour de France and was on the podium a the AToC last year is a definite contender. Floyd Landis and Italian Ivan Basso are making comebacks after serving doping suspensions. Basso won't be on top form, but Landis, who won the inaugural AToC in 2006, could surprise.

The race route is extremely challenging with lots of climbing. Unfortunately, from a strategy and tactics standpoint, most of the really difficult ascents come too far from the stage finish to have an affect on the overall standings. The lone exception is Stage 2 on Monday from Sausalito to Santa Cruz where the final climb, Bonny Doon Road is long enough, six miles, and steep enough, the first two miles are 10% after that is is 4-7% to cause a selection. At the top of the climb a technical 10-mile descent drops the racers right into the finish. Look for a group of 3-10 riders to come to the line.

While the Bonny Doon climb will select the semi-finalists for the overall win, the time trial will choose the leader. As in the past three years, this 15-mile race against the clock will decide who will wear the golden fleece into the finish Sunday after next in Escondido.

While the race for the overall title usually takes center stage, look for former World Champion Tom Boonen and Britain's wunderkind, Mark Cavendish, to duke it out for wins on the flatter stages. I like Tom and one of his sponsors is the American bike company Specialized, but Cavendish seems even more motivated as his team's title sponsor, Columbia is headquartered on the west coast. Look for Boonen to take a stage and Cav to win on at least two days.

The weather will also make the race exciting, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. A series of major winter storms are lined up to come into Northern California starting on Sunday with daytime highs around 50F and snow levels of around 1500-2000 feet. There are several climbs in the race which eclipse that altitude so things may be white for the racers. Hopefully, the weather will not play a deciding factor. The racers are as tough as they come, but there is no need to turn it into a daily sufferfest.

Look for daily updates from behind-the-scenes at the race. It's going to be another week of unforgettable racing in California.

Bruce

True Confessions?

Bruce Hildenbrand — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:25:20 GMT

What to do? What to do? Does an athlete need to confess to a doping positive to be accepted back into favor with his fellow competitors and fans? In the past few days we have seen Alex Rodriguez(A-Rod) admit that he used steroids during the height of his career in 2001-2003 when he was voted the league MVP. The problem is that in 2007, A-Rod told Katie Couric that he had never taken performance enhancing drugs(PED's).

Why the flip-flop? Because several journalists at SI.com were able to obtain the identity of some of the 102 baseball players who tested positive for steroids when Major League Baseball did anonymous testing in 2003. So, faced with pretty hard evidence that he did use steroids, A-Rod came clean. In cycling, a similar situation occurred several years ago when Ivan Basso denied drug use until bags of his blood were identified in a refrigerator in Spain. David Millar also denied drug use then came clean when syringes containing EPO were found with his fingerprints at his home.

Why am I bringing this up? Am I jealous that A-Rod hooked up with Madonna and I didn't? No, it is because the 4th annual Amgen Tour of California starts on Saturday and Basso will be there. Millar rode the race last year. But, more importantly, Americans Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis will also be there. Basso, Millar, Hamilton and Landis all served suspensions for doping infractions, but while Basso and Millar admitted their transgressions, Hamilton and Landis did not.

There is a good reason that Tyler and Floyd have not admitted to doping. Both contend that they didn't do performance enhancing drugs. The question here is, do Tyler and Floyd need to admit that they took PED's to be accepted back into the pro peloton and be embraced by the fans much like what has happened to both Millar and Basso? Is it good enough that Tyler and Floyd served their suspensions, paid their debt, so to speak?

Personally, I think that Tyler and Floyd should be allowed to compete and their fans should be allowed to cheer and cheer and cheer for their success. If you are not a Tyler of Floyd fan, then fine, don't cheer for them. Don't put them on your Christmas card list. What I have a problem with is people calling Tyler and Floyd dopers. Yes, they were dopers, but by the same token so were Basso and Millar. So, if the shoe fits, then everybody should wear it.

Bruce

ps - unless some huge story breaks in the next week, this is the last blog I intend to write about doping. The Tour of California is America's premier bike race so let's focus on the positives!

pps - if you are saving an asterisk for any of Barry Bond's records, don't forget to save a few for A-Rod.

Final Team for Amgen Tour of California Announced

Bruce Hildenbrand — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:19:45 GMT

The remaining nine teams for the 2009 Tour of California were announced today and there weren't too many surprises. One fun factoid worth reporting is that there were sixteen(16) teams participating in the first Amgen Tour of California comprised of eight Pro Tour and eight non-Pro Tour squads. In 2007 and 2008, eighteen teams toed the line composed of nine Pro Tour and nine non-Pro Tour squads.

In 2009, there will be seventeen total teams, eight Pro Tour and nine non-Pro Tour which is a bit of a departure from previous years. Rumour has it that two Pro Tour teams Fuji-Servetto and Milram tried to obtain a slot in the race, but obviously they did not make the cut. So, it is a bit of a mystery why the race organizers didn't even out the Pro Tour and non-Pro Tour squads by inviting either Fuji-Servetto or Milram.

The original eight teams (all part of the Pro Tour) announced last month are:

AG2R- La Mondiale, Astana, Garmin-Chipotle, Liquigas, Quick Step, Rabobank, Saxo Bank, Team Columbia.

The final nine teams (all non-Pro Tour) announced today are:

Bissell Pro Cycling Team, BMC Racing Team, Cervelo Test Team, Colavita/Sutter Home Presented by Cooking Light, Fly V Australia presented by Successful Living Foundation Team, Jelly Belly Cycling Team, Ouch Presented by Maxxis, Rock Racing, Team Type 1.

It looks like the predictions I made last month when the Pro Tour teams were announced were pretty spot on with Colavita and Cervelo Test Team replacing Kelly Benefits on my potential list.

Probably the most interesting tidbit from today's announcement is that with the inclusion of Ouch Medical, it means that the first ever winner of the Amgen Tour of California, Floyd Landis, will make is return to racing at the California event. In a year of comebacks, will Floyd be as welcomed as that guy named Lance?

Bruce