With the precision of a Swiss timepiece, Fabian Cancellara grabbed the prologue win in Palo Alto for the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday.
The world champion time trial champion finished the 2.1-mile route in 3:51. Levi Leipheimer, defending champion and last year's prologue winner on a climbing course up to Coit Tower in San Francisco, finished in 4th place, about 6 seconds behind.
The best team effort was put in by Slipstream-Chipotle, which placed four riders in the top 10. They were Tyler Farrar, David Zabriskie, David Millar and Steven Cozza.
Cipo returns
Sunny skies met the racers for this third Tour, which rolls out for 650 miles through Sunday. On Monday, the peloton leaves Sausalito at 11 a.m. for a 98-mile race to Santa Rosa.
Viewers from the roadside got to see the best field ever to compete in the Tour of California. They even witnessed the return of Italy's Mario Cipollini who emerged from retirement at 40 years old to race for the Rock Racing team.
Always the fashion maven, Cipo wore a black and green skin suit emblazoned with the skull caricatures of his team. He finished in 44th place and with a smile on his face.
Coverage
The Versus coverage, featuring Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll, was delayed quite a bit behind the live results, even though the network could have gone live. Also, they spent about five minutes on a Valentine to Rock Racing at the beginning of the telecast.
Frankie Andreu, a former Versus commentator, appeared on the live Tour Tracker at the Amgen Tour of California website. To use this feature, I had to download the latest Flashmedia and reboot the computer. Small price to pay.
Over at flickr.com, RichardMasoner (aka Cyclelicious) already has begun posting images from the prologue.
Top 10
The New York Times points out aptly that only four teams are represented in the top 10, and nine of the riders are on teams with well-publicized, strict antidoping measures in place — Team CSC, Slipstream and High Road. The 4th team with a top 10 finisher, Astana, has hired this year the same doctor responsible for Team CSC's anti-doping policy.
Reporter Edward Wyatt called it a “psychological victory for antidoping advocates.”
After the prologue, Cancellara will wear the yellow leader's jersey, Bradley Wiggins the green jersey and Norway's Evald Boasson Hagen (High Road) will wear the best young rider's jersey.
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC
2. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team High Road – 4.77 seconds behind
3. Tyler Farrar (USA) Slipstream – 5.25
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana – 6.31
5. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Team High Road – 7.68
6. Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Team CSC – 7.98
7. David Zabriskie (USA) Slipstream – 8.37
8. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team High Road – 8.44
9. David Millar (GBr) Slipstream – 8.57
10. Steven Cozza (USA) Slipstream – 8.91
Christian Vande Velde (Slipstream) finished 12th, and George Hincapie (High Road) finished in 13th.
See all the results at CyclingNews.
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