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Heavy rains doused a lot of dreams at the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday as Rock Racing's Francisco Mancebo spent the entire day in front of the peloton to win in Santa Rosa.
The 32-year-old Spanish cyclist appeared to thrive on the wet and windy conditions as he outgunned two challengers at the finish line and finished about 2 minutes ahead of Levi Leipheimer, who's trying to win a 3rd straight Tour of California.
Because of changes at the finish line, however, Leipheimer is only 1:02 behind Mancebo in the overall standings. Following is David Zabriskie in 3rd, Michael Rogers in 4th and Lance Armstrong in 5th.
Armstrong suffered a flat and a fall during the 106.7-mile stage from Davis to Sacramento, but was right there with teammate Leipheimer in a chase group of about 17 that finished about 1:40 minutes behind. Armstrong's Twitter reaction to the day:
“Holy hell. That was terrible. Maybe one of the toughest days I've had on a bike, purely based on the conditions. I'm still freezing.”
Cancellara abandons
Yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara was not a factor in the race, as he dropped out at the first feed zone due to illness.
Mancebo, at left in his AG2R jersey from a few years ago, was picked up by the US-based Rock Racing pro cycling team this year. His best year seems to have been 2005 when he won a stage at the Vuelta a Espana (finished 3rd overall) and finished 4th overall in the Tour de France.
The Spaniard's gritty ride on Sunday was more amazing by his driving finish at the end ahead of Jurgen van de Walle of QuickStep and Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas. The two had bridged up to Mancebo during the laps in Santa Rosa.
Chase
Van de Walle and Nibali were part of a group of 20 that had started chasing when Mancebo had a 12-minute lead. The chase, driving by Astana riders Chris Horner, Jose Luis Rubiera, Armstrong and Leipheimer, had whittled down that lead to about a minute on the first of three laps in Santa Rosa.
Then, as if they got the word to ease up, they stopped chasing. In fact, Mancebo kept putting time on the chase group on each lap.
Time change
Actually what had happened is that, because of the rain and trecherous conditions, the race directors had decided to use the time gaps at the finish line on the first lap as the official time for the General Classification. The final two laps remained to battle out a stage victory.
What that means is that even though Mancebo beat Leipheimer by two minutes or more at the finish line, that gap that counts in Mancebo's overall lead is the one-minute advantage that he had the first time across the finish line.
It took about 4 hours to post the results. I'm wondering whether there's some controversy over the way this stage was managed. I can imagine Rock Racing's owner Michael Ball not being at all happy about “losing” a minute's advantage.
Either way, now Rock Racing has to protect the yellow jersey.
Long road
The riders who didn't make the jump to the chase group on Sunday have a big job ahead of them if they want to be contenders when the race ends in Escondido.
In addition to the four Astana riders I mentioned above, the chase group included Andy Schleck and Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), Thomas Lövkvist and Michael Rogers (Team Columbia – Highroad), Kevin Seeldraeyers (QuickStep), Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), Ivan Basso (Liquigas), Rory Sutherland and Jonathan Patrick McCarty (OUCH), David Zabriskie (Garmin), and Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing).
Floyd Landis (OUCH) was initially in the chase group but got dropped along the way due to a flat. Not among the chasers were George Hincapie (Columbia), who also flatted, and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin). All three are 5:08 behind Mancebo.
Top 10 overall:
1. Francisco Mancebo (Spain) Rock Racing
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana — 1:02 minute behind
3. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin — 1:03
4. Michael Rogers (AUS) Columbia –1:03
5. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana — 1:05
6. Chris Horner (USA) Astana — 1:09
7. Thomas Lvkvist (SWE) Columbia — 1:13
8. Jose Luis Rubiera (USA) Astana — 1:13
9. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Liquigas — 1:13
10. Robert Gesink (NED) Rabobank — 1:14
Stage 2
The 116-mile Stage 2 leaves from Sausalito at 8:30 a.m. (Pacific) on Monday and finishes in Santa Cruz between about 12:50 and 2 p.m. Coverage on Versus starts at 12:30 p.m. (Eastern), 9:30 a.m. (Pacific). Here's a link to the route and host cities.
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