Category: Tour of California
Two former US teammates capped off the third Amgen Tour of California with a thrilling one-two punch on Sunday.
George Hincapie took the Stage 7 win, vindicating his High Road team that had been ruled out of a stage victory the previous day. And Levi Leipheimer won his second straight Tour championship, his first as leader of the Astana team.
Joining Leipheimer on the podium were Slipstream cyclists David Millar of the UK and Christian Vande Velde of the US, who finished 2nd and 3rd behind Leipheimer …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/25/hincapie-wins-stage-7-leipheimer-repeats-tour-of-california-championship/
Race judges awarded Stage 6 to Brazil's Luciano Pagliarini because the first man across the finish line, Mark Cavendish used a team car to regain the peloton after a crash by other riders at the Amgen Tour of California.
The 20-second penalty must be a huge disappointment for Cavendish's High Road Team, which has yet to win a stage or make a threat in the overall leader's race.
American Levi Leipheimer finished safely in the peloton and retained his lead in the Tour. He only has to hold it for one more day to win the event in the final stage to Pasadena on Sunday …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/23/cavendish-wins-sprint-but-stage-goes-to-pagliarini-leipheimer-still-leads/
American Levi Leipheimer blistered the 15-mile individual time trial at the Amgen Tour of California on Friday, beating his closest challenger by a full minute.
Two-time world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, whose hopes for a golden jersey rested on this course around Solvang, had a disappointing day. Instead of climbing back into the lead that he held after the prologue, the Team CSC rider fell out of 2nd place .
The stage win by Leipheimer puts him closer to an overall victory for Tour of California for the second straight year. He'll be able to rely on his strong Astana team on the 105-mile stage from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita on Saturday, and the concluding 93-mile bike race into Pasadena on Sunday …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/levi-leipheimer-wins-stage-5-time-trial-solidifies-overall-lead/
Staying with the breaks for 125 miles into a spitting rain paid off for Dominique Rollin on Thursday when he launched a solo break near the finish and won Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California.
Levi Leipheimer retained the leader's golden jersey, due to the efforts of his Astana team riding at the head of peloton and controlling the race.
If there is glamour in the sport of cycling, it wasn't in evidence in Thursday's stage. In addition to many cyclists being ravaged by stomach flu, the rest of the peloton spent the day pedaling down Pacific Coast Highway into rain and head- and side-winds for 135 miles between Seaside and San Luis Obispo.
How bad was it? The final results show that 15 riders dropped out during the stage, in addition to 3 who couldn't start in the morning. Among the drop-outs, Tom Danielson from Slipstream and Jackson Stewart (BMC Racing), who had just reclaimed the King of the Mountains jersey before climbing into an ambulance to be treated for hypothermia. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/22/rollin-wins-stage-4-leipheimer-still-leads-tour-of-california/
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…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/20/leipheimer-back-in-the-golden-jersey-gesink-wins-stage-3/
Without a doubt, Modesto has never hosted so many elite pro cyclists as are showing up to roll out Wednesday morning for Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California.
The Central Valley town used to be my home for about 10 years beginning in the mid-1980s. During that time Nelson Vails was the only prominent cyclist to ride within sight of the arch emblazoned with the slogan “Water Wealth Contentment Health.”
Vails wasn't, or isn't, a household name for many. I had seen Vails win a silver medal in the individual sprint at the velodrome at the '84 Summer Games in Los Angeles. He also had small role in that atrocity, Quicksilver …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/20/water-wealth-contentment-health-and-for-one-morning-cycling/
Belgium's one-day race specialist Tom Boonen (left) took the final sprint in Sacramento on Tuesday, as Slipstream's Tyler Farrar (right) of Seattle stepped into the overall lead of the Amgen Tour of California.
The Stage 2 win marked the first in the US for Boonen, the leader of the QuickStep team. The 27-year-old is among the winningest riders in the peloton, with stage wins at the Tour de France and many of the spring classics trophies on his mantel.
The third cyclist across the line was a blast from the past, Mario Cipollini, who returned to pro cycling after two years of retirement. You gotta tip your helmet to the 40-year-old Rock Racing sprinter, who obviously did more than sit around cafes drinking wine the past two years.
Farrar's climb into the overall lead is a real bonus for the 23-year-old Wenatchee native and a credit to the Slipstream team…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/19/tom-boonen-wins-stage-2-in-sacramento-seattles-farrar-in-yellow/
Team CSC's Juan Jose Haedo won the sprint finish in Santa Rosa on Monday, marking the third year that the Argentine speedster has won a stage of the Amgen Tour of California.
Teammate Fabian Cancellara, who held on to the overall leader's yellow jersey, was seen cheering back in the bunch as Haedo won by about two bike lengths.
A bunch of 70-some cyclists made it into Santa Rosa in time to race in the three 3.1-mile circuits around town. It looked like QuickStep was leading out Tom Boonen, but CSC Bobby Julich took over and helped power Haedo toward the finish. BMC's Alexander Moos also attacked on the final circuit…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/18/j-j-haedo-back-to-his-winning-ways-for-stage-1-cancellara-holds-lead/
Cycling fans who are shocked by the unfairness of the Astana cycling team's banishment from the Tour de France will want to sign a petition at LetLeviRide.com.
American cyclist Levi Leipheimer launched the campaign to petition the Amaury Sports Organization to allow his Astana team to compete in the Tour de France, as well as Paris-Nice and other races it owns.
ASO announced it banned Astana from the Tour de France because of doping problems the past couple of years, in spite of the fact that management has been overhauled this year and many of the cyclists are new…
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/18/let-levi-ride-petition-drive/
With the precision of a Swiss timepiece, Fabian Cancellara grabbed the prologue win in Palo Alto for the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday.
The world champion time trial champion finished the 2.1-mile route in 3:51. Levi Leipheimer, defending champion and last year's prologue winner on a climbing course up to Coit Tower in San Francisco, finished in 4th place, about 6 seconds behind.
The best team effort was put in by Slipstream-Chipotle, which placed four riders in the top 10. They were Tyler Farrar, David Zabriskie, David Millar and Steven Cozza …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2008/02/17/cancellara-wins-tour-of-california-prologue-slipstream-puts-4-in-top-10/
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