I vaguely remember that the original logic behind scheduling the Tour of California at this time of year was that the weather would be better than racing in, say, Belgium this time of year. The grimacing faces of the riders today looked as dismal as at any early-season European race, and remarkably like the faces during a typical ride here in the Northwest.
Today’s final body count is not yet clear, but lots of riders abandoned the race due to the weather, fatigue, or a flu that is going through the peloton. As a result of the weather and a brutal headwind, it took racers over 7 hours to complete the 135 mile course. All but Rollin came across the finish line shaking their heads and looking like they’d just been ejected from a cyclocross race. Yuck.
Dominique Rollin of Toyota-United broke away from the break away with about 15 miles to go and held off Hincapie, Camano, and a seemingly motivated peloton that was powered into the finish by Team CSC.
Eye-catching video clips posted on the VeloNews TV and the Amgen sites:
-Check out the paceline technique by the riders in the early ~10-man breakaway. Short pulls, quick rotations, and poetry in motion, even in dismal circumstances.
-Cipollini quote: “I am 41year in the body but 20 in the brain.” We should all adopt Italian math for our age calculations.
And this from Levi Leipheimer’s web site:
“A horse kicked a two-year-old Levi in the stomach, rupturing his intestines. Much later, in 2002, he underwent an operation for it which resulted in some complications: excess scar tissue from the operation caused blockage that required more surgery. That year, Leipheimer’s cycling season was cut short. He was bed ridden for 12 days and dropped to 120 pounds.“
I have a similar situation brewing in my belly these days, and in fact had to cut short my 2007 cycling season for the same reason.
Between Cipollini and Leipheimer, my two excuses, age and ruptured intestines, are blown to smithereens.
