American Levi Leipheimer won back the Amgen Tour of California's golden leader's jersey on Wednesday in his battle to defend his title from 2007.
At the finish line in San Jose, Leipheimer thanked stage winner Robert Gesink for his success, as the Rabobank cyclist helped Astana's Leipheimer hold off the peloton in the final miles after the grueling summit of Sierra Road.
Their cooperation ensured that Team CSC's Fabian Cancellara did not take back the leader's jersey on a day the peloton struggled up the beyond-category climb of Mount Hamilton, followed by the 1st-category Sierra Road.
Finish
Riders from Slipstream and Team CSC led the 15-man chase group through the streets of San Jose at the conclusion of the 102-mile race from Modesto. CSC and Slipstream both have had cyclists in the golden jersey so far in this Tour.
Cancellara won the jersey in the prologue and held onto it after Stage 1. Tyler Farrar of Slipstream took it after Stage 2 based on intermediate sprint points and was hoping to pass it off to one of the other Slipstream riders high in the overall standings — David Millar, Dave Zabriskie or Christian Vande Velde.
However, Farrar (who lists his current home as Seattle) abandoned the race in between the first two climbs today. As a sprinter, he doesn't have the build for mountain-climbing, although it's uncommon for any cyclist to give up while wearing the leader's jersey. (VeloNews reports he came down with a stomach bug, which explains everything. Give him kudos for starting.)
Hors categorie
The big climb of the day was Mount Hamilton, an average 7% climb for 5 miles to an elevation of 4,360 feet.
Team Astana led Leipheimer up that climb; among the other 18 riders were Chris Horner (Astana) George Hincapie (High Road), Paolo Bettini (QuickStep), and Gesink, the Best Young Rider at the tour in 2007.
Hincapie bombed down the mountain, leading the chase group and was first to hit the 15% climb at the bottom on Sierra Road. He ran out of gas and was passed by Leipheimer and Dave Zabriskie (Slipstream), among others. (This was an “all-or-nothing” effort for Hincapie, who dropped from 12th to 26th place.)
Riders dropped off the lead group near the summit of the climb, until only Leipheimer and Gesink remained. They held the lead for the 20-some miles into San Jose. Leipheimer, riding for Discovery, led the 2007 Tour of California from the prologue through the finish.
For those of you scoring at home, comeback kid Mario Cipollini finished with the other sprinters about a half hour after the leaders; just enough to avoid getting d.q.'ed.
Top 10:
Quite a shake up in the top 10, although Cancellara is still there waiting for Solvang time trial on Friday, as is Zabriskie. Christian Vandevelde moved up, which is cool. Hincapie is down in 26th, 7:27 out, which is a bummer.
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
2. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, 0:13
3. Robert Gesink (Nl), Rabobank, 0:15
4. David Millar (GB), Slipstream-Chipotle, 0:20
5. Gustav Larsson (Swe), CSC, 0:21
6. David Zabriskie (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle
7. Christian Vandevelde (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, 0:23
8. Christopher Horner (USA), Astana, 0:25
9. Alexandre Moos (Swi), BMC, 0:29
10. Victor Hugo Pena (Col), Rock Racing, 0:31
Recent Comments