February 25/06 11:05 am - Tour of California: Stage 6 Report, Photos and Results

Posted by Editoress on 02/25/06
 

Tour of California

Reports made possible by the support of MAXXIS tires

Photos

The Europeans finally won a stage at the Amgen Tour of California today, when Olaf Pollack (T Mobile) shot off his team mates' wheels to win in Thousand Oaks at the Amgen headquarters. There was no change to the general classification and, barring unforeseen circumstances, Floyd Landis (Phonak) should easily complete the final circuit race in Redondo Beach to become the first Tour of California winner.

The 143.7 kilometre stage began in Santa Barbara, under the now familiar sunny skies that have blessed the race from the beginning. There were four categorized climbs (3 Cat. 4's and 1 Cat. 3), and two sprints to liven things up. A group of seven riders rolled off the front 4 kilometres after the end of the neutralized section. The group consisted of Sven Krauss (Gerolsteiner), Dominique Perras (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada), Scott Davis (T Mobile), Brice Jones (Jelly Belly), Mike Jones (Health Net), Karsten Kroon (Team CSC) and Justin England (Toyota-United).

At the 12 kilometre mark Viatcheslav Ekimov (Discovery) made an attempt to bridge up, but four kilometres later had to stop for a bike change and dropped back to the peloton. That effectively doomed the break. While they were up to 1:30 by the first KoM (where Brice Jones was dropped), Discovery, who had no one in the break, led the chase. Just before the first Sprint (50 kilometres) the breakaways were absorbed.

On the third KoM (Category 3 climb), seven more riders tried to get away but were shut down immediately. Sebastian Lang (Credit Agricole) was more successful when he attacked after the second Sprint. Within 20 kilometres (40 kilometres to go) his lead was two minutes and there was one lone chaser - Perras. Lang's lead maxxed out at two and a half minutes (Perras was 45 seconds in front of the bunch) when disaster struck: a rear flat and a slow wheel change.

This seemed to revitalize the sprinters' teams and Toyota-United went to the front, with Lang back in the bunch with 27 kilometres to go. With four kilometres to go Sven Krauss attacked again, entering the finishing circuit with a 20 second lead. But it was too little, since CSC had their team at the front and Krauss was caught on the first loop. CSC led through the second loop and looked to be in control, until Rene Haselbacher (Gerolsteiner) attacked with 500 metres to go. The finish became a melee, and Pollack was able to come off Andre Korff's wheel to easily win the uphill sprint.

"The speed was just as fast as in Europe; everyone was going full gas. Michael (Rogers) started at 500 metres, and then Andre Korff at 300. I came off his wheel in the final 200 metres."

Race Notes:

- Shawn Hunter, President of AEG South (the organizer of the Tour), stated in today's press conference that the race had surpassed one million spectators, making the Tour of California "the largest spectator sporting event in the history of California, with the exception of the (1984) Olympics."

While there have been significant spectator turnouts at some of the major climbs and at the finishes of each stage, most knowledgeable observers would cut the spectator count by at least half, which is still very respectable.

- UCI President Pat McQuaid has been at the race for the last three stages, and spoke today about the race, and the potential for future inclusion in the ProTour.

"We are witnessing a truly historical event here, which is important for cycling in the United States and the world. I believe that this race has an amazing future. As to where it fits in the calendar; I think it is in a lovely position right now. There are some clashes with European races, but none of the big races, and most teams have two or three squads now that can contest more than one event."

As for ProTour aspirations: "Well, first we have to sort out the current situation (laughter), but in the short term it (Tour of California) will not be in the ProTour - I was asked the same thing by the Tour Down Under (Australia) last month. The regulations are set through 2009 for the races to be in Europe.

But in the long term would I like to see races outside of Europe, then yes. But remember, if this race became part of the ProTour then the top-20 ProTour teams would be here and there wouldn't be space for local teams. There is a problem of expense with going outside of Europe - we tried it in Montreal with the World Cup and it didn't work, it was too expensive."

- Perras said afterwards, "We went hard from the start and we were rolling really well. Ekimov was 10 seconds back but Krauss didn't want to wait so (Ekimov) never made it. Discovery Channel started chasing, but I think we would have rolled away if Ekimov was with us."

- Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval) didn't start today's stage, after finishing off the back of the front group yesterday. He was reportedly complaining about the pace being too high for this time of year. Many of the Europeans are upset about the speed through the entire stages; they are more used to a slower start for the first 50-100 kilometres and then very hard racing at the end.

- Tomorrow's stage is a circuit race along the oceanfront in Redondo Beach, north of Los Angeles. The essentially out and back circuit is 12.3 kilometres long and the riders will do 10 laps. There is a slight rise in the middle and nine corners, the first two after the start forming an S-bend.