Levi Leipheimer single-handedly closed a 3-minute gap on the final climb to take the yellow jersey on the Amgen Tour of California's Stage 2 on Monday.
Taking Leipheimer's slipstream on the descent was Garmin's Thomas Peterson, a native of North Bend, Washington. He passed Leipheimer in the uncontested sprint to win the 116-mile stage from Sausalito to Santa Cruz.
As it turned out, Rock Racing could not defend the yellow jersey earned Monday by Francisco Mancebo. He finished in the third bunch about 1:40 behind Leipheimer.
Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, in spite of his second crash in as many days, was in a group of about 10 that finished 23 seconds behind the winners and is 4th overall. Armstrong T-boned a motorbike that went down in front; says he's OK.
Regarding Leipheimer's performance, team director Johan Bruyneel said: “Levi was impressive today. He was on a mission.” Seconded by Armstrong: “Levi was amazing today. Proved he's by far the strongest man in the race. Nobody close.“
Breakaway
The race marked 22-year-old Peterson's first major win. He joined a 10-man breakaway that led for much of the race, but was the only one who could hang onto Leipheimer when he blasted through them on the final climb.
The biggest threats in that breakaway were Ben Jacques Maynes (Bissell), who was riding toward his hometown, and Carlos Barredos (QuickStep). Each trailed the yellow jersey by about 5 minutes.
Rock Racing rode at the front of the peloton, keeping the margin to that breakaway group to within 4 minutes.
Bonny Doon
The race stayed like this until the bottom of the final climb, Bonny Doon Road, that ascended to a 14-mile downhill into Santa Cruz.
As Barredos attacked the breakaway in front, Team Astana took over the peloton. It didn't hurt that Rock Racing's Tyler Hamilton flatted out. Astana's Yaroslav Popovych helped launch Leipheimer, who never looked back.
Ninth place Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) was the only rider to join him from the main field on the climb, but couldn't keep Leipheimer pace. Leipheimer and Peterson (from the early breakaway) went over the summit together; the only other rider to make contact briefly was Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank), who also had been in the early break.
Finish
The next group back of about 10 riders included Armstrong and Chris Horner from Astana, along with Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) and Michael Rogers (Columbia).
Mancebo was in a group trailing further back.
The weather could have played a part in the race on Monday. The picturesque view of cyclists passing along the Golden Gate bridge in the morning was occulded by fog.
The rain kept up most of the day, except for a brief stretch along the coast before the Bonny Doon climb and at the finish. That first sun break lured many cyclists to shed their rain and cold weather gear, only to find cold weather on the summit.
Top 10 overall
1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Columbia – 24 second behind
3 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin – 28 seconds behind
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana – 30 seconds behind
5 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana – 24 seconds behind
6 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana – 38 seconds behind
7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Columbia
8 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank – 39 seconds behind
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