February 21/07 10:53 am - Tour of California: Stage 3 report, results & photos

Posted by Editoress on 02/21/07
 

Tour of California

Coverage sponsored by: Maxxis, Shimano, Enervit

Photos

Race leader Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) said it best: "Today was a bike race. It was war all day."

Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California was expected to put Discovery to the test, and it did. The team hung onto the leader's jersey, but lost the Points Jersey and the rider wearing it - Allan Davis - when he finished outside the time limit. Nine riders in total did not make the time cut at the end of the day. Jen Voigt (CSC), part of a race-long break, took a threeway sprint over Leipheimer and Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto) to jump to second in the standings, 3 seconds behind Leipheimer. Ryder Hesjedal (Health Net) finished with the main chase group, and moved up to 7th overall, 19 seconds back of Leipheimer.

The 152 kilometre stage featured two rated climbs, with the second - 20 kilometres before the finish - the only Category 1 climb of the entire race. Before the riders hit that climb, they had to go over the Patterson Cat. 4 climb, and contend with rolling terrain between the two climbs.

This was a day that the other teams decided to push Discovery, to see if any cracks developed (or at least begin to wear them down).

"Our goal was to get guys into a break and make it hard on Discovery" explained Michael Barry (T-Mobile). "We wanted to open the race up, so we attacked until a break went with two of our guys."

Three kilometres into the stage (after a neutral run out of Stockton), a group of 17 established a gap that stuck. In the group were: Jurgen Van De Walle (Quick Step), Mauro Da Dalto (Liquigas), Jens Voigt (CSC), Bram De Groot (Rabobank), Charly Wegelius (Liquigas), Steven Cozza (Slipstream), William Frischkorn (Slipstream), Nicolar Reistad (Jelly Belly), Kirk O'Bee (Health Net), Mads Kaggestad (Credit Agricole), Kyle Gritters (Health Net ), Shawn Milne (Health Net), Mike Sayers (BMC), Jason McCartney (Discovery), Torsten Hiekmann (Gerolsteiner), and Aaron Olsen (T-Mobile), Jakob Piil (T-Mobile).

The group worked well together, and took the lead up to five minutes. "It was my fault" admitted Leipheimer. "We allowed too many to get away at the beginning, and we couldn't manage it. We did have Jason (McCartney) in there, which was crucial for me later in the race. But we didn't panic when we couldn't close it at the beginning - we were chasing at 65 kilometres and hour, and you can't go 70 .... We calmed down because we knew Sierra Road was coming up."

Voigt claimed that the situation which developed was happenstance. "We didn't plan this, I just followed a couple of moves and picked the right one. When I looked around and saw 17 riders and only one team chasing ... it looked good."

Eventually, Discovery was joined in the chase by Rabobank and Slipstream; both anxious to preserve their GC positions, and by the base of the Sierra Road Cat. 1 climb, the gap was down to just over a minute, and the break was coming apart.

Voigt attacked on the first steep section, low on the climb, taking Cozza, McCartney, Piil and De Groot with him. But behind, Discovery was pulling out the big guns. George Hincapie and then Ivan Basso went to the front of the splintering field to pace Leipheimer. Basso in particular drew praise from Leipheimer.

"Ivan took me a long way up the climb and put me in good position."

When Basso pulled off, Leipheimer poured it on, blasting through the remnants of the break to catch Voigt at the front. Only Horner and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) was able to stay with him on his charge up to the front, and then Voigt came close to being dropped once the chasers caught him and McCartney near the top.

Horner: "Levi was climbing on another page today."

Voigt: "I went hard at the bottom and they caught me 2 kilometres from the top. Levi was going so hard I could barely hang on. But I made it over the top, rested a bit, and then began to think that I could win this stage. I had a free ride the last 20 kilometres; they were going really fast. I'm never going to win against Tom Boonen, but I'm pretty confident in a group of four or five."

The group crested the KoM with a minute lead over 12 chasers, including Bobby Julich (CSC), Christian Vandevelde (CSC), Mauricio Ardila Cano (Rabobank), Michael Rogers (T-Mobile), Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) and Ryder Hesjedal. Bettini was leading the chase, and as riders came back to the group on the descent and the flat run in on the last 15 kilometres, they began to creep up on the leaders. McCartney and Gesink were gapped, and it was down to three, and as they came out of the final left hand corner with 400 metres to the line, less than five seconds later a group of 33 riders poured through the turn, led by world champion Bettini.

Voigt didn't try anything fancy, just went to the front and tried to burn the other two off his wheel. Leipheimer hung on with grim tenacity, since time bonuses could put his lead in jeopardy - Voigt had already taken 3 seconds in an intermediate sprint. As it turned out, even if he had finished third, Leipheimer would have retained the lead - by one slim second.

Race Notes

- Ryder Hesjedal is fighting allergies: "I've got some allergy problems right now, so I was definitely hurting on the climb; I was just happy to stay with the main group. I'm not sick, but I'm congested, clogged sinuses, the whole bit ... I just have to take it one day at a time and hope it improves. Hopefully I can maintain my position and move up the next day in the time trial."

- Michael Barry says that T-Mobile is feeling good about how the day turned out. Discovery is in a more tenuous position now; they only have Levi and Jason (McCartney) in contention. I think tomorrow will be hard again, with lots of attacks, and Discovery is tired now ... If it does rain tomorrow (which it is supposed to) then it is usually a headwind down here, so it will be even harder on Discovery to have to ride into a headwind for 220 kilometres."

T-Mobile have former world time trial champion Michael Rogers at 19 seconds. "It's the first race of the year, but Michael (Rogers) has good fitness" commented Barry. "He was riding well on the climb today, so I think he should have a good time trial. Voigt is also going to do a good time trial."

- "It's going to come down to the time trial" declared Horner. "Today narrowed it down, but the time trial will decide the winner."

- Voigt is also feeling confident. "We are more than happy now. We have Bobby (Julich) for the time trial, and I can do okay, so I think we are in good position." He also revealed: "At our training camp time trial I was second to (world champion) Fabian (Cancellara) by a second or two, so I'm feeling pretty confident."

"But we have some serious contenders still, and Levi was very sharp; he dropped everyone on the climb. So it's not over until the fat lady sings..." (Voigt was asked if the expressions translates into German: "Not really, but I like it, so I use it whenever I can!"

- Tomorrow's stage is the longest, at 213 kilometres (plus a neutral start). It begins just outside Monterey, in the town of Seaside, and heads south along the famous Highway 1, through Big Sur and some of the most picturesque scenery in California, before finishing in San Luis Obispo. There are 3 KoMs in the first half of the race, and local weather reports say "Probability of Rain: 100%" ..

Stage 3: Stockton to San Jose, 152.2km