Winner Levi Leipheimer wasn’t the only American to star in the Tour of California. American cyclists put a made-in-America stamp on the third ToC.
– Christian Vandevelde had a breakout performance for Slipstream-Chipotle/H30 with a third-place finish overall, joining fellow American Leipheimer and fellow teammate David Miller on the podium. Vandevelde had a big effort in the mountainous Stage 3 and finished the stage in the elite 14-man chase group with teammates Millar and David Zabriskie, and world time trial champ Fabian Cancellara of CSC.
But Vandevelde’s best showing was in the Stage 5 time trial in Solvang. He finished the 15-mile ride in 31 minutes 15 seconds, behind only winner Leipheimer (41 seconds in arrears) and Millar (12 seconds in arrears). Vandevelde finished ahead of both Zabriskie (a three-time U.S. time trial champ) and Cancellara.
The Slipstream boys, who won the team title at the inaugural Tour of Missouri, also claimed the ToC team title, ahead of the powerhouse Astana team. Slipstream placed three riders in the top six overall (Millar in second, Vandevelde in third and Zabriskie in sixth) and four in the top 11 with Tom Peterson 11th. (Peterson was runner-up to Rabobank’s Robert Gesink in the best young rider competition.)
In addition for Slipstream, Steven Cozza and Danny Pate, both Americans, were in the breakway in Stage 7, with Cozza surviving to the five-man finish. Cozza also got face-time in the breakaways in Stage 3 and Stage 6. Also, Tylar Farrar was in yellow after Stage 2, but he was forced to abandon because of illness in Stage 3.
– Big George Hincapie, the yellow jersey at the inaugural Tour of Missouri, was visible throughout the Tour of California for his new team, California-based High Road, and he capped the week by winning the last stage in dramatic fashion.
Hincapie was in the 10-man breakaway, then led the 4-man surge to cover the attack of Bissell’s Tom Zirbel, also an American. Then, on the last lap, he bridged a 15-second gap and won the five-man sprint to the finish. Hincapie finished 18th overall, giving Americans seven finishers in the top 18 in the star-studded international field.
Most impressive, Hincapie overcame a concussion from a crash in Stage 2 and had strong showings in Stages 3 and 4. In Stage 3, he popped off a solo attack and built a 45-second lead before the Astana train passed him on the final climb, and then he jumped into the breakaway in brutal Stage 4, ending up third for the day.
– Chris Horner was stellar in his debut with Astana, finishing seventh overall. Horner starred in support of second-place finisher Cadel Evans at the Tour de France last year for Predictor-Lotto, and he did the same yeoman work for Leipheimer at the ToC. His performance with Chechu Rubiera on Sierre Grande whittled away the contenders and set up Leipheimer to take the yellow jersey. Horner also finished a respectable 14th in the time trial.
– U.S. domestic team BMC was named the most aggressive team, little wonder since it had riders (all Americans) in five breakaways: Jackson Stewart in Stage 1; Scott Nydam in Stage 2 and again in mountainous Stage 3; and Stewart again in Stage 4, though he was forced to abandon on the brutal 135-mile stage along Pacific Coast Highway; and Taylor Tolleson in Stage 7. Nydam ended up as the King of the Mountains, and American Jeff Louder placed 24th. In addition, Alexandre Moos, one of two Swiss-borne riders on BMC, had the best overall finish (10th) of domestic/continental riders.
– Benjamin Jacques-Maynes of Bissell finished 16th on the strength of a ninth place finish in the TT, right behind another American — his teammate Zirbel.
– Americans Bryce Mead of Jelly Belly and Edward King of Bissell were in the Stage 4 breakaway, while Michael Creed of Rock Racing and Jason McCartney of CSC got some face time in Stage 7 breakaway.
– St. Louisan Mike Lange did well in his debut with Jelly Belly, placing 35th overall. Lange was one of only two Jelly Belly riders who survived the race. Brutal weather conditions, illnesses and injuries prompted a whopping 55 riders to drop out.
– Toyota-United got the Stage 4 win from Canadian Dominique Rolling (third in the Tour of Missouri last year), and T-U remains the only U.S. domestic team to win a stage in any of the three American Tours — California, Georgia and Missouri.
– And lest we forget, happenin’ Rock Racing made a splash on many levels – pre-race controversy, podium girls and the race itself. RR caused a stir in the lead-up to the race after the race organizers banned Rock riders Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla and Santiago Botero, all implicated in the re-opened Operacion Puerto investigation. After making noise that the whole team would be departin’ if they all weren’t startin’, the Rock cats forged on and redeemed themselves well, ending up as the only non-Pro Tour team (and one of three overall) to finish the race with as many riders as it had to start it.
Rock’s Mario Cipollini, the former world champion who has come out of retirement at age 41, finished third behind Quick Step star Tom Boonen in Stage 2, and Victor Hugo Pena excelled in the mountainous Stage 3 en route to a 12th place overall finish. Creed was the lantern rouge, in last place overall, but he jumped into the Stage 7 breakaway and was in the five-man sprint to the finish.
-- And that five-man sprint to the finish to end the ToC at the Rose Bowl … four of five are Americans: Hincapie (first), McCartney (third), Creed (fourth) and Zirbel (fifth). Austalian Rory Sutherland was second, but for an American domestic team – HealthNet-Maxxis.
–30–