February 22/07 11:12 am - Tour of California: Stage 4 report , photos & results

Posted by Editoress on 02/22/07
 

Tour of California

Coverage sponsored by: Maxxis, Shimano, Enervit

Photos

The crowd in San Luis Obispo received a special treat when world and Olympic champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) just nipped the Espoir world champion - Gerald Ciolek (T-Mobile) - at the line to take stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California. All the top contenders finished safely in the peloton, with Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) still holding a 3 second lead over Jens Voigt (CSC) as the race heads into the critical time trial tomorrow.

At 213 kilometres, stage 4 from the Monterey area town of Seaside to San Luis Obispo took the riders through some of the most picturesque scenery of California, along the Pacific Coast Highway past Big Sur. Weather forecasts for the past few days had painted a grim picture of heavy rain and even hail. And indeed, when racers peered out of their hotel windows first thing in the morning it looked like they would be getting very wet and very cold, as the rain came pouring down.

However, by start time the clouds were breaking up, and some blue sky was even seen. The conditions did not clear completely, with some squalls blowing in to soak the riders sporadically (including one brief session of hail), but for the most part it was a dry - albeit grey - day. Only when the race entered the final hour did the sun really come out to stay.

Discovery did not want a repeat of yesterday, when they allowed a large break to get away early and then had to chase hard all day, so initial attempts to get away were firmly squashed by the boys in blue and black. Finally, at the 32 kilometre mark, four riders managed to break free an establish a gap which stuck: Aaron Olson (T-Mobile), Kirk O'Bee (Health Net), Alejandro Acton (Colavita Sutter Home) and Christophe Laurent (Credit Agricole). They were joined shortly awards by three more rider - Hilton Clarke (Navigators), Sean Sullivan (Toyota United Pro) and Lucas Euser (Team Slipstream) - which made the group complete.

Clarke was the highest placed in the break, but was over 3 minutes down on Leipheimer, and not seen as a GC threat. Laurent took the opportunity to go for the KoM jersey - successfully, as it turned out. The group took their lead to over 5 minutes before it began to shrink with 60 kilometres to go, and fell rapidly with 25 kilometres remaining, as the sprinters' teams began to pull the break back to set up for a sprint finish.

"The weather looked grim," agreed Leipheimer "but it cleared up for the start. Today was very smooth sailing for the team. Tom (Danielson) and Tony did a lot of work all day, and George (Hincapie) and Ivan (Basso) were there for me at the end. I think everyone was tired after yesterday, so that is why it went easier for us."

The peloton was all together with 5 kilometres to go, and Rabobank, CSC and T-Mobile began jockeying for position. Voigt threw a scare into everyone when he jumped off the front with 2 kilometres remaining, but was quickly absorbed after 500 metres.

Coming through the final right hand turn it was Rabobank at the front, trying to set up Graeme Brown for a second win, but it was an uphill sprint and Brown faded before getting by his lead out rider. To the left hand side of the peloton it was Ciolek, followed by Bettini and Stage 2 winner JJ Haedo (CSC).

Ciolek, the reigning U23 World Champion, seemed to be able to go forever, and as the rider entered the final 25 metres it was looking like he would take it. Haedo had swung out to the right, but couldn't quite come by. But then Bettini timed it to perfection, swinging out from behind Ciolek at the last moment and threw his bike across the line to win by centimetres.

"I always like winning" said the world champion. "Yesterday I felt that I had good legs, and maybe I could have won then. Ciolek is very fast, for sure, and yes, I was a bit tardy, so it was a matter of a few centimetres. I lost a metre in the corner and it was hard to come back, but it was uphill and I had the power. He will get even faster with experience."

Race Notes

- Tomorrow's time trial should decide who will win this race. Opinions are split: Voigt is very strong, but Leipheimer is looking mid-season fit, and could hang on to the lead. "I think the time trial course is a tough course, and we will see some decent gaps." commented Leipheimer. "I'm just going to ride as hard as I can."

- Bettini's team manager Patrick Lefebvre commented on the growing fight between the UCI and the Grand Tour organizers - led by ASO, the organizers of the Tour de France and many other major races. Currently, Paris-Nice (an ASO event) is not on the UCI calendar, and ProTour teams have been told not to compete.

"I'm tired of it, I'm tired of this mess," said Lefebvre forcefully at the post-race press conference. "They (UCI and ASO) have to deal with it - it is not good for the sport. Now the UCI is fighting in the middle of the road with the Grand Tours."

"We have to work together. They can't make a film without the actors; they need us (the teams). Maybe we have to find our own solution. There will be a meeting (of the teams) in Belgium next Friday.