Top- Lance , Center- Robin Williams and Bottom- Fabian Cancellera
What a beautiful day to watch the start and finish of Stage 3 of the Tour of California. The Shack came prepared to defend Levi's reign on this event. Saxo came with their powerhouse world champion and TdF contender. Columbia brought their overall leader and the world's fastest man. Garmin brought a solid team. Big George came with his BMC boys. Cervelo, Rabobank, Quickstep, Liquigas and several domestic pro teams.
Cervelo started the day in yellow with Brett Lancaster, but everybody knew the burden was on The Shack and Levi. There were 2 sprint points and 4 KOMs on the way to Santa Cruz, the last KOM being Bonny Doon where the separation always occurs. The break consisted of the domestic pro teams looking for sponsorship glory and that little bit of hope they might be a hero after this day. Five guys got away with a small but always manageable leash.
The Shack and Cervelo started reeling them in before Bonny Doon. Levi, Mick Rogers and DZ were the only three that cleared and made final separation. Interesting finish that saw DZ throw his arm out instead of his bike to nip Mick at the line. Levi had done most of the work, but even as they had claimed as much as a minute and a half on the climb, Liquigas and Cervelo brought it back on the descent to about 10 seconds.
DZ sits in yellow from time bonuses, Mick second and Levi third. That is the battle of the ToC GC now.
Great seeing these guys up close and realizing how good they really are in our sport. Leaving Cali for reality and back to the local cycling scene, but not without a cycling fix by watching some of the top guys in our sport duke it out in California in preparation for the Tour in 6 weeks.
And great to see two of my favorites although they haven't fared to well in Cali and probably have different strategies than to win... Fabian Cancellara, who has been at top form this year winning the Tour of Oman, the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen and of course the famous Tour of Flanders and Perry Roubiax and Jens Voigt.
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