May 20/10 19:12 pm - Tour of California: Stage 5 report, photos and full results

Posted by on 05/20/10
 

On a day overshadowed with allegations of doping, the Tour of California saw the race lead change for the fourth time in five stages, when Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) moved ahead of David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) to claim the golden jersey.  The pair are tied on time, but Rogers finished second in the stage to Peter Sagan (Liquigas), one spot ahead of Zabriskie, and the lead changed based on the higher placing in the 195 kilometre stage.  Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions) was eighth in the stage, three seconds behind Sagan, and currently sits in seventh place overall, 31 seconds behind Rogers.  Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Strategies) retained the leader's jersey in the Climber's competition.

Photo Gallery

Peter Sagan wins

The day began with Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) holding a press conference in Visalia to refute former teammate Floyd Landis' charges that Armstrong had doped during his years of winning the Tour de France (Note: see our earlier posting of a video of the press conference).  Armstrong then crashed on the way out of town and dropped out of the race, requiring a trip to the hospital and stitches around his left eye and elbow.  Stuart O'Grady (Saxo Bank) went down in the same crash, breaking his right clavicle, and Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) also abandoned.

"It was a shame to have to abandon early and not be able to help [teammate] Levi [Leipheimer] to another victory," commented Armstrong.  "It was one of those crashes that put a bunch of us down.  I tried to give it a go but my eye was swollen so I couldn't see properly and the pain in the elbow prevented me from holding the bars for the remainder of the stage.  It was a relief to learn there were no breaks."

Almost forgotten in all the activity was the fact that there was a break of six up the road.  Mark Renshaw (HTC-Columbia), Paul Mach (Bissell), Ben Day (Fly V Australia), Will Dickeson (Jelly Belly), Grisha Neirmann (Rabobank) and Kurt Houvelynck (Quick Step) went clear approximately 50 kilometres into the stage and built a lead of six and a half minutes by the first KoM, making Mach the virtual leader on the road.

The break began to flag, until Renshaw and Day began attacking, and the group eventually came into the finishing circuit a little more than a minute up on the field, led by Zabriskie's Garmin teammates.  The peloton had split in two on the first KoM, with all the sprinters opting for  the 'laughing group', since the finishing circuit had a nasty little climb in the final kilometre and a half.  Ryan Anderson also rode with this group, to rest his legs after two days in breaks, while his team monitored the front for dangerous riders in breaks.

Ben Day lauched off the front for a last ditch effort to stay away, but was swallowed up, setting the stage for a battle among the three race leaders - Zabriskie, Rogers and Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack).  Zabriskie went to the front for the final climb, but was closely shadowed by his rivals and Sagan.  Into the final 500 metres, the young Slovakian easily powered away to take the stage win, while Rogers jumped by Zabriskie for second.  Leipheimer couldn't match the other two, finishing seventh on the stage.

With time bonuses from an intermediate sprint, plus the final, Rogers made up the four seconds he was behind, to move into the lead.

Tomorrow's 217.7 kilometre stage is expected to break the race up even further, with seven KoM climbs between Palmdale and Big Bear Lake.