Australian Brett Lancaster plowed across rain-slicked streets in front of a 26-man breakaway group to win Stage 2 and take the overall lead at the Amgen Tour of California on Monday.
That group of two dozen cyclists included some of the pre-race favorites, who now have nearly a minute-and-a-half lead over the rest of the peloton after only the second stage.
Among them are Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong of Team RadioShack, Michael Rogers of HTC-Columbia, Andy Schleck and Jens Voight of Saxo Bank, and David Zabriskie and Tom Danielson of Garmin-Transitions.
Not making that group was George Hincapie of BMC Cycling and Fabian Cancellara of Saxo Bank, and many others.
The breakaway was set up by five members of Team RadioShack on the Trinity Grade, the last of three steep climbs on the 110-mile bike race from Davis to Santa Rosa. The gap over the rest of the peloton could have been lengthened by one or more crashes on the slick downhill portion of Trinity Grade.
Rain
Details were sketchy because something happened that wasn't supposed to happen when organizers moved the Tour of California dates from February to May — it rained cats and dogs. And it was cold. It rained so much that the helicopters were grounded, and the videocameras on motorcycles couldn't relay their signals for the telecast.
Forecasters say the weather is expected to improve on Tuesday for Stage 3 between San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
Only a light drizzle met the peloton when it took off from Davis. A five-man break developed right away and gained as much as 6:30 before the peloton started its chase in earnest.
Breakaway
Karl Menzies (Unitedhealthcare) and Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1) survived in the breakaway to the slopes of Trinity Grade, after earlier climbs over Howell Mountain and Oakville Grade.
But they were soon caught by the chase group, which stayed largely intact all the way to Santa Rosa. A full list, from CyclingNews, of that final breakaway group comprised:
Leipheimer, Armstrong, Janez Brajkovic, Chris Horner , Jose Luis Rubiera ( all of Team Radioshack) , Rogers and Lars Ytting Bak (Team HTC-Columbia) , Schleck , Voigt, and Andre Steensen (all of Team Saxo Bank) , Lars Boom and Dennis Van Winden ( both from Rabobank Cycling Team) , Francesco Bellotti and Peter Sagan (both of Liquigas-Doimo) , Zabriskie , Danielson, Ryder Hesjedal and Peter Stetina (all of Garmin-Transitions) , Steve Morabito (BMC Racing Team) , Lancaster (Cervelo Test Team) , Rory Sutherland, Menzies and Marc De Maar (Unitedhealthcare Presented by Maxxis) , Paul Mach (Bissell) , Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia) , Rabou (Team Type 1) , and Scott Zwizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies).
Leipheimer
Yellow jersey wearer Mark Cavendish wasn't expected to be a factor in Monday's stage, and he did lose his overall lead to Lancaster.
In addition to winning the race and yellow jersey, 30-year-old Lancaster also leads the points competition. Rabou leads the King of the Mountains contest and Sagan (Liquigas) leads the best young rider competition.
Teams whose members didn't make the final break will have to assess their chances of taking the overall championship or just going for stage victories the rest of the race.
As a member of the first group across the finish line, Leipheimer (who lives in Santa Rosa and trains on these roads) has to be liking his chances for a four-time repeat championship of the Tour of California. Last year he made his winning move on the Bonny Doon climb between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. He's currently sitting in 11th place, 10 seconds behind Lancaster.
Top 10 after Stage 2
1. Brett Lancaster (Cervelo)
2. Peter Sagan (Liquigas) – 4 seconds behind
3. Karl Menzies (United HealthCare) – 4 seconds
4. Lars Boom (Rabobank) – 6 seconds
5. Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1) – 6 seconds
6. De Maar (United HealthCare) – 7 seconds
7. Paul Mach (Bissell) – 8 seconds
8. Michael Rogers (HTC Columbia) – 10 seconds
9. Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) – 10 seconds
10. Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin Transitions) – 10 seconds
Selected others
11. Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) – 10 seconds
… 16. David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions – 10 seconds
… 18. Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) – 10 seconds
… 21 Chris Horner (RadioShack) – 10 seconds
… 42. George Hincapie (BMC) – 1:27
… 83. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) – 15:12
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