American cyclist George Hincapie broke his wrist in that collision early in Saturday's Stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California and won't return for the final stage on Sunday.
In spite of the injury, Hincapie turned in a gritty performance to drive the peloton during the middle of the stage as it lagged behind a 9-man breakaway that threatened to steal the golden jersey from Discovery Channel team leader Levi Leipheimer …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/25/hincapie-breaks-wrist-wont-finish-tour-of-california/
At some point on Saturday, the Discovery Channel cyclists must have been wondering how many challengers they had to contain to win the Amgen Tour of California for Levi Leipheimer.
While they kept Team CSC's 2nd place Jens Voigt neutralized on the 105-mile stage from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita, his 5th place teammate Stuart O'Grady jumped onto a breakaway and nearly stole the race.
The Australian rider on Team CSC was 1:20 behind Leipheimer in the General Classification on Saturday morning, and suddenly he and eight other riders in the breakaway had a 3-minute gap on the peloton …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/24/haedo-wins-stage-again-leipheimer-leads-tour-of-california-with-1-day-to-go/
Photo by falling.bullets at flickr.com. Levi Leipheimer fights to add seconds to his margin over challenger Jens Voight in Friday's time trial.
Levi Leipheimer assumed undisputed control of the Amgen Tour of California on Friday, as he powered to victory on the individual time trial and gained valuable seconds on his nearest challenger.
The Discovery Channel cyclist posted the fastest time of 29:40 over the 14.5-mile loop course around Solvang, beating 2nd-place challenger Jens Voigt by 18 seconds, which gives the US rider a 21-second overall lead.
With just two stages remaining, this tour is virtually in the bag for Discovery Channel if Leipheimer's teammates hold off the attacks over the last two stages. Barring a major debacle, the only cyclist within striking distance is Team CSC's Voigt. The strategy for Discovery is easy: “Don't let Voigt get away.” …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/23/leapin-leipheimers-levi-owns-tour-of-california-lead/
This photo by maxima25 at flickr.com shows stage winner Paolo Bettini (in white at extreme left) and other cyclists sweeping around a corner approaching the finish in San Luis Obispo.
Italian sprinter and world road race champion Paolo Bettini helped school the peloton at the Amgen Tour of California on Thursday when he took the Stage 4 sprint by a tire tread in San Luis Obispo.
Discovery Channel's Levi Leipheimer held onto his slim three-second overall lead ahead of Team CSC's Jens Voigt, setting the stage for a major contest in Friday's 14.5-mile individual time trial around Solvang.
The Tour of California ends Sunday, and whoever is wearing the leader's golden jersey after Stage 5 could have a good chance holding it through the finish in Long Beach. Last year the time trial was timed for an earlier stage in the Tour, but Floyd Landis was able to hold the gold all the way to the finish …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/23/bettini-wins-tour-of-california-stage-leipheimer-still-holding-on/
The 2007 Amgen Tour of California has been all about Levi Leipheimer over the prologue and first three stages. That might be about to change.
Although the 3-second lead he takes into Stage 4 is his largest of the Tour, the number 2 man is German cyclist Jens Voigt, a member of the strong Team CSC and a former Tour de France stage winner and yellow jersey holder. He certainly has his eyes on the prize. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/22/can-leipheimer-hold-on-another-day-at-tour-of-california/
Here's the Levi Leipheimer breakaway on Sierra Road hill. That's Leipheimer in front, followed by another American, Chris Horner, of Predictor-Lotto. The Rabobank rider next to him is Robert Gesink; CSC's Jens Voigt and Discovery's Jason McCartney trail. Photo by The Electrician at flickr.com.
Good team tactics — and awesome climbing chops — helped to save the day for Levi Leipheimer and the Discovery Channel team at the Amgen Tour of California on Wednesday.
Team CSC's Jens Voigt won the 94-mile stage between Stockton and San Jose, as the sole survivor of a 17-man breakaway that attacked at the start and led the peloton across the Central Valley.
Now the challenge for Leipheimer and the Discovery Channel team is how to hold off Voigt — a mere three seconds behind in the overall standings — and his powerful Team CSC, ranked the best in the world …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/22/leipheimer-holds-lead-in-stage-3-voigt-closes-gap-with-stage-win/
The peloton sweeps past throngs lining the streets in Sacramento. Photo by jlockwood1 at flickr.com.
You can be pardoned for suffering a serious case of deja vu during this year's Amgen Tour of California. There are so many similarities with last year's inaugural bike race.
What's the same: Both years Levi Leipheimer won the prologue in San Francisco and retained the golden jersey at the end of Stage 1.
What's different: Leipheimer now rides for Discovery, not Gerolsteiner; he kept the jersey after Stage 1 this year only because of the race commissioners' ruling in Santa Rosa; and he still holds onto the leader's jersey at the end of Stage 2
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/21/its-still-leipheimer-in-lead-haedo-wins-stage-at-tour-of-california/
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Here's an excellent crash photo posted at KWC at flickr.com and at his Spare Cycles website. The blogger/photographer writes about the crash at The Levi Rule.
Levi Leipheimer didn't come out of a crash on his home turf of Santa Rosa unscathed, but the Discovery Channel cyclist did retain the leader's golden jersey on Monday.
Australian Graeme Brown, riding for Rabobank, took the Stage 1 win at the Amgen Tour of California. American Dave Zabriskie (Team CSC) is reportedly out of the race and was sent to the hospital because of injuries in an earlier crash …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/20/leipheimer-survives-crash-to-retain-gold-jersey-at-tour-of-california/
Several websites are pushing the technological envelope to offer live video, audio, play-by-play, and race leader tracking the Amgen Tour of California.
The most ambitious of these is the Tour Tracker page at the official Tour of California website. (Update: Feb. 22 — Early in Wednesday's stage, all the bugs appeared to be worked out as it offered live online video and audio. Very cool. Update: Feb. 23 — Tour Tracker audio working, video is sporadic due to weather. ) Also, CSC is offering its Omnilocation Tracker for race leaders on a Google course map and Velonews and CyclingNews has play-by-play updates for mobile phones.
What this means is that we can stay up-to-the-minute at home or the office on our computer or anywhere else via a mobile phone. This can definitely improve the way cycling fans can watch racing. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/19/live-online-tour-of-california-video-course-maps-and-updates/
The young competitors on the domestic cycling teams at the Amgen Tour of California put the old hands on notice at Sunday's prologue: They've come to play.
Until the amazing effort by American cyclist Levi Leipheimer to win the prologue, several young riders from the domestic teams sat atop the leader board for most of the day.
For Leipheimer, it's a carbon copy of last year's win, except he did it in the jersey of the Discovery Channel pro cycling team instead of Gerolsteiner …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/02/19/who-are-these-guys-tour-of-california-prologue-winners/
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