May 18/10 23:08 pm - Amgen Tour of California: Stage 3 report, photos, and results

Posted by Editoress on 05/18/10
 

David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) won the third stage of the Tour of California on Tuesday, and became the third rider in three days to don the gold jersey of the race leader. Zabriskie outsprinted breakaway companions Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) and defending champion Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) to win the 182.3 kilometre stage. The three race favourites broke away from the rest of the field on the final climb of the stage to finish 17 seconds in front of a chase group.

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With time bonuses, Zabriskie holds a four second lead over Rogers and six seconds over Leipheimer. Ryder Hesjedal, Zabriskie's teammate, finished tenth on the stage and moved up to sixth in the overall standings, 27 seconds out of the lead. François Parisien (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy), was ninth in the stage and 17th overall, with the same time as Hesjedal.

"It was a hard day," admitted Hesjedal. "We were there to support Dave [Zabriskie], and it work out well. I was feeling good, climbing with the front group, but I had a scare when I flatted after the last climb. Luckily I was able to get back to the group and not lose any time."

Will Routley (Jelly Belly) was awarded the Most Aggressive Rider jersey for the stage, after participating in a 90 kilometre long breakaway attempt that was only caught on the final climb.

The break was slow in getting established, as Mark Cavendish's HTC-Columbia squad kept everything together for the first two sprints, to put the Brit back in the Points Jersey. After the second intermediate sprint, the peloton calmed down and rolled along the Pacific coast in the sunshine.

Routley used the local knowledge he had gained from wintering in Santa Cruz to identify what would prove to be the key spot for the successful break.

"I knew that there was a left turn from the wide highway by the ocean into a narrow road up to the climb, and it was important to be up front then. Sure enough, after we went around the corner, the ProTour teams spread across the road and we were able to get away."

Four other riders joined Routley in the break - Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Eric Boily (SpiderTech p/b Planet Energy), Davide Frattini (Team Type 1) and Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell). The group opened up a gap of over five minutes by the top of the third climb, as rain at the tops of the climbs caused the peloton to descend gingerly, but there was still over 100 kilometres to go, with a long tailwind section next to the ocean and the final, and hardest, climb of the day.

RadioShack, with some assistance from Cervélo, the team of race leader Brett Lancaster, went to the front and steadily pulled back the break along the Pacific Coast Highway section. Just before the race turned inland for the final climb up Bonny Doon, Routley attacked solo, hoping to extend his time away.

"I hoped we'd hit the final climb with a few minutes lead," explained Routley, "but no dice, they chased super hard on the run in, and we were gonna get caught, so I attacked the break and went solo for about 10 kilometres, and got the most aggressive rider jersey for it."

He was caught at the base of the steep part of the climb, and then Radioshack put the pressure on. Riders were quickly shed off the back by the blistering pace set by by the team, until partway up the climb Leipheimer attacked, exploding the remainder of the field, with only Rogers and Zabriskie able to match his pace. Over the top of Bonny Doon, the trio had a gap of 30-plus seconds on a chase group of 24, including Hesjedal, Parisien, RadioShack riders Lance Armstrong, Chris Horner, Janez Brajkovic and Jose Rubiera, Hesjedal's teammates Tom Danielson and Peter Stetina, Jens Voigt and Jakob Fuglsang from Saxo Bank, and Heinrich Haussler from Cervélo.

As the group behind got organized, the gap to the leaders began to drop, but coming into the final kilometre was still 20 seconds. Zabriskie began to wind up 500 metres from the line and held on for the win, centimetres in front of a late surge by Rogers. For Zabriskie, who has finished second overall two times (2006 and 2009), it was a first stage win and first leader's jersey at the Tour of California.

Race Notes

- Comments from Frank Parisien: Another top 10 for the team. This is awesome for the team. Eric was in the break all day. Superb representation of the Canadian riders today. Lucas [Euser] and I got great support from our teammates. Before the left turn on Bonny Doon, the peloton was riding at 60 km/h and our team-mates brought us back in top ten position for the climb. The first few km on the climb was like a full on sprint, holding close to 500 watts. When the break went, we slowed down. Lucas rode at the front to maintain a good tempo. Then when we knew that we had a chance to bring back break, I focussed on the sprint. We came close to bringing them back. Tomorrow should be another good day for us.

- Armstrong changed bikes twice on the descent after the second KoM. After the first change, he rode the replacement for about ten minutes before (we assume) switching back to his original bike.

- RadioShack is doing an incredible advertising blitz to go with the team and the race - placards are being handed out by the thousands, ads in local papers, a flatbed truck with a big billboard (of Lance, naturally) rolls along in front of the race. Meanwhile, a plane pulling a banner for Michelob Ultra (the beer Armstrong endorses) has been circling over the race...

- There was a mash up among team cars on the second KoM, as riders went back for rain gear, and team directeurs jockeyed for position. A number of teams received fines and, more ominously, a mandatory meeting for all team directors with the California Highway Patrol before the start of tomorrow's stage...

- Tomorrow's 195.5 kilometre stage heads inland, starting in San Jose and finishing in Modesto. It opens with the difficult Category 1 Sierra Road climb before dropping into the Central Valley. A second Category 4 climb faces the riders half way through the stage, and then it is a downhill run to the finish line.