2009 AToC stage 3, Live Coverage archive

to VeloNews.com’s Live Coverage of the third stage of the Amgen Tour of California, a race scheduled to cover 104.2 miles from San Jose to Modesto.

It’s another rainy day in California, with sporadic showers, affecting the day. In San Jose, the forecast calls for showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms. Some of those thunderstorms may produce small hail, which should make for a happy day of riding. Highs in San Jose will be in the lower to mid 50s and the winds are blowing at 15 to 20 mph from the south.

The forecast for Modesto is about the same, except that the wind is even higher, averaging 15 to 30 miles an hour and gusts up to 45mph.

There is some discussion of the final circuits in Modesto being eliminated or reduced by a lap. More on that as the story develops.

The weather appears to have grounded the signal-relay plane, which means we will be struggling to keep track of events, as we did on Sunday.

Live images from the video feed – and signals from race radio – are generally transmitted to the plane and sent back to the press room and the officials’ room.

The official start was planned for 12:00 p.m., but that has been changed to 11:50 a.m. and one loop around the neutral “parade” lap has been eliminated as well, all designed to let the race try and beat the worst of the afternoon storms in Modesto.

So, riders are on the road.

No matter what happens at both ends of this stage, the race will start with only about five miles of flat roads, before the terrain kicks up and climbs the Category 1 ascent of Sierra Road. While Sierra Road played a big part in the third stage of last year’s race, this year the climbs earlier. It will also be ridden from the opposite side as last year. If you look to the race profile, you’ll notice that the climb is much steeper from the San Jose side, so we may see some riders spit off the back, especially if the Astana team of Leipheimer turns on the gas to keep anyone from forming up an early break.

1. Levi Leipheimer, Astana, 9:23:02
2. Michael Rogers, Team Columbia-High Road, at 0:24
3. David Zabriskie Garmin-Slipstream, at 0:28
4. Lance Armstrong, Astana, at 0:30
5. Christopher Horner, Astana, at 0:34
6. Janez Brajkovic, Astana, at 0:38
7. Thomas Lövkvist, Team Columbia-High Road, at 0:38
8. José Luis Rubiera, Astana, at 0:38
9. Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas, at 0:38
10. Robert Gesink, Rabobank, at 0:39

It’s still a tight race, folks and we have plenty of riding left this week, so Leipheimer will have to work to keep the jersey all the way through Sunday.

The rain at the start is easing up and the sun is coming out. We’re hoping that the forecasters are wrong.

We have four riders – Jeff Louder (BMC), Bauke Mullema (Rabobank), Brian Vanborg (Liquigas) and Bradley White (OUCH) about 45 seconds ahead of the field as they work their way up Sierra Road.

neither of whom we have identified, who are trying to bridge up to the four escapees.

Right now our leaders are on the climb and working their way to the top of the relatively short, but darn steep, climb up Sierra Road.

There is no truth to the rumor that the AToC has given up on TV copters and instead employed Capt. Nemo and the Nautilus to provide coverage of what is turning into the world’s longest swim meet.

has about 4.5km to reach the KOM mark.

Word is that the Francisco Mancebo is one of the two riders trying to bridge. Feisty little feller, ain’t he?

Mancebo and Matt Wilson (Team Type 1) are working their way up the road, ahead of the peloton, but not up to the four men in the break yet.

Probably more than he wanted, though. He and Wilson have been reeled in by the peloton.

If you have a comment, a question or complaint, hit the “contact our editors” button below the live update window.

If you need a quick response, go ahead and drop a direct line to the Live Update Guy at Charles@Pelkey.com.

He wants those KOM points … and maybe higher aspirations.

who is working to ride away from an uncooperative peloton, he may have reason to be concerned.

He has been mentioned – as has his Rock Racing teammate Tyler Hamilton – as possible suspect in the Operacion Puerto investigation. A Spanish court today gave investigators the green light to carry on with the case, meaning that the three-year-old scandal may rear its ugly head again. They do say the wheels of justice turn slowly, but dang, this is ridiculous.

Edward King (Cervelo TestTeam) crashed in the neutral zone – of all places – has pulled out of the race.

Mancebo, by the way, has bridged to the group of four. He is in the hunt for KOM points.

One of our readers dropped us a note to say

Just came down into Modesto and the crosswind is blowing 25+

Not raining at the moment, but not going to be fun.
Mike D.

We’d probably agree, but it may depend on your definition of “fun,” I guess. Some people enjoy that stuff, but apparently there is medication for that now.

are working their way over the final 2km of the Sierra Road climb. The crowds are heavy at the top. Not “heavy”… bad word choice. There are a lot of people there. Most of them are skinny.

The five men in the break are Jeff Louder (BMC), Bauke Mullema (Rabobank), Brian Vanborg (Liquigas), Bradley White (OUCH) and Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing).

from Sean Weide, the spokesman for Team Type 1:

Charles:
There was some confusion at the sign-in this morning. Two of Team Type 1′s riders – Phil Southerland and Fabio Calabria – were not on the list. Apparently, the officials printed the sign-in sheets Monday before deciding not to impose the time cut. So Calabria and Southerland, who narrowly missed the time cut on Stage 2, were re-instated this morning and allowed to continue.

Just thought I would pass this along in case you have nothing else cooking to share…
Sean

is only about 20 seconds.

has sent a rider into the break. It looks like Chechu Rubiera has moved up into the group. Aside from Rubiera (at 38 seconds) the best placed man in the break is Mollema, who started the day at 2:14 back.

according to our guy in the Columbia car, Mancebo is not in the break.

We’re getting a lot of mail about the weather and folks suggesting that the race be moved to something like April. Of course changing the UCI calendar is like squeezing a balloon. If you move one thing, it may cause problems elsewhere. For one thing, if we had a race in California in April, we would be missing some of the better classics guys, including Cancellara, Boonen and Hincapie.

We’ll see. The first years of the AToC were blessed by good weather. It may improve.

The men in the break are over the top and the peloton crested just 35 seconds back.

We are, as we’ve mentioned, flying blind today, so we’re uncertain as to the actual composition of the break beyond the original four of Louder, Mollema, White and Vandborg.

The LUD will be filling in for a bit this afternoon. Despite his Luddite moniker, LUD likes to keep one of his many eyes on the @velonewslive twitter account, if you have questions. You also can email to webletters@competitorgroup.com.

The break has made it down the Sierra Road descent safely, although back in the pack at least one rider has gone down.

It’s always hard to get a time gap over a descent, but at the bottom it appears the gap for our four is well over a minute. We will get a better time stamp once everyone is safely down.

Our four and their GC standings:

18. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), at 2:14
71. Jeff Louder (BMC), at 23:52
74. Bradley White (OUCH), at 23:58
76. Brian Vanborg (Liquigas), at 23:59

Team Type 1′s MacGregor has crashed. Another Bissell rider went down, along with a Liquigas rider. It does not appear that MacGregor will be continuing.

With the dismal weather … and grounded aircraft can’t we/ you place spotter at key points along the course to radio in breaks or splits within the Peloton?

Jeanluc

Jeanluc, we have two reporters in the caravan today, one in a team car. Plus two photographers in the midst, and us Live Update guys back here, dry and warm in the Mountain Zone. Unfortunately, the last time I tried to talk to one of our reporters, he was hanging off the handstrap of a team car coming down Sierra, and didn’t have much of value to add to our report. But he’ll check in again soon.

The Bissell rider who went down was Omer Kem. Apparently the reports were incorrect re: a Liquigas crash. Bissell is having a tough week, with Andy Jacques-Maynes crashing out yesterday.

Just heard from Neal Rogers in the caravan. The leaders are at about the 26-mile mark, and the latest split has them at 2 minutes. They are approaching a good-sized climb (uncategorized) then a sprint at Livermore. Neal will send in a pic in a second that we will post to twitter @velonewslive

Antonio in Arizona says, “I swear I saw somewhere that the 2008 TDF Champ is riding this year’s AToC as well.

I have not seen his name mentioned anywhere in articles or media reports covering the race. … what is going on? Is he or is he not racing?”

Indeed he is, Antonio, although Carlos Sastre is recovering from the flu that he had entering the race and hasn’t had much to say (with his legs or otherwise) this week.

He is in 111th place at just over 30 minutes behind the leader. Maybe we’ll get to see him put on a show later in the week. Nothing like riding 100 miles a day in a cold rain to help you get over the flu, huh?

Sean Weide with Team Type 1 has contacted us. He says that Ian MacGregor crashed into a parked truck on the Sierra descent. “He was unable to make a corner on the rain-soaked descent. He is being taken to a nearby hospital to be checked out for possible broken bones and facial abrasions,” Sean said.

At mile 33, the gap is about four minutes. Neal says it is “not raining, but not dry. The roads are wet and the sky is cloudy.”

The leaders are headed down a wide open highway, California Highway 84 East.

Several Astana riders involved, maybe Leipheimer. One of the riders is getting a new bike. Everyone is up.

It was Leipheimer, who touched wheels. His team is bringing him back to the pack, not looking too frantic.

The best placed rider in the break, Mollema, got the sprint, followed by White and Louder. The gap at the sprint line was 5:15.

VeloNews photog Casey B. Gibson, on a moto with the field, saw the crash involving Leipheimer. He says a few Garmin riders also tumbled, but it didn’t look like anyone was hurt. The pack was going steady at the time, Casey says, with Astana doing the work at the front and Leipheimer sitting in.

Leipheimer is safely back in the pack.

To answer a reader question, Bissell’s Andy Jacques-Maynes was taken to the hospital yesterday and x-ray’d and poked and probed and released. We hear that, from his family home, Andy’s enjoying watching his twin brother, Ben, continue in the race.

The breakaway is approaching the second categorized climb, Patterson Pass. We hear from a local that the descent is a screamer.

The wind is turning from cross to head-on. The gap is up to 5:25 with Astana driving at the front. It’s about 40 miles from the summit to the finish line, which should give them time to reel in Mollema, or at least reduce his gap. Mollema is in 18th overall, at 2:14 behind Leipheimer, recall.

VeloNews editor in chief Ben Delaney spoke with Tom Boonen this morning and Michael Rogers last night. Ben reports that both riders said no one was expecting Monday’s stage to blow up like it did.

“This of course made me feel better about our public VeloNews picks for the stage as one for the sprinters,” Ben says.

With Leipheimer back in the fold and Astana back on the front, the gap is now closer to four minutes. The chase is coming through the feedzone at the base of the climb.

The break is on the climb. It’s only about two miles.

The break is on the climb less than 1k from the summit and the chase is approaching the foot of the climb.

The leaders are over the top. Astana is handling the chores at the front of the pack. Mollema went back to the team car to chat for a bit on the descent.

word over race radio is that Colavita’s Alejandro Borrajo has abandoned the race. The break is at mile 53, and the pack is being led by Astana, followed by Columbia. We are trying to get a split.

Mollema won the KOM points at the top of Patterson, followed by Vanborg, Louder and White.

As Neal reported earlier, it’s not raining, but it’s not dry, either. In Modesto, it’s 54 degrees, with winds out of the southeast gusting to 23 mph. There remains a chance of showers, thunderstorms and even hail. Fun fun fun in sun sun sun.

Meanwhile Cavendish has returned to the fold after a flat.

Team Type 1′s Darren Lill has abandoned the race with knee pain, his team reports.

We are at about mile 60 and we have four riders off the front:

18. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), at 2:14
71. Jeff Louder (BMC), at 23:52
74. Bradley White (OUCH), at 23:58
76. Brian Vanborg (Liquigas), at 23:59

They took off on the first climb, and were briefly joined by Rock Racing’s Mancebo, who grabbed the first place KOM points at the top of Sierra Road, and then faded back to the peloton.

The four really opened the gap after the descent, and it currently is just over five minutes. Mollema grabbed the sprinter’s time bonus at Livermore, bringing his time gap behind Leipheimer down to 2:11, if the Live Update Dude did his math correctly.

Our latest time check puts our four men in the break at 5:00.

We are at about the 61 mile mark.

We’re seeing a bigger mix of riders at the front of the field with Columbia interested in lending a hand. We’re sure they’re there in hopes of setting up Mark Cavendish.

The Live Update Guy (LUG) is back at the controls and wants to extend his thanks to the Live Update Dude (LUD), who covered the shop for a bit of lawyerin’ lesson time.

For those of you have comments and questions, feel free to hit the “contact our editors” button below or send a note directly to the LUG at Charles@Pelkey.com. We do read them all and we try to answer as many as we can.

is the leader on the road, right now, having started the day at 2:14 and a gap of five minutes, but with about 38 miles remaining, we’re sure that won’t last.

Astana and Columbia are sharing the work at the front of the peloton. We see some minor echelon action out there, a sign that the wind is brisk from the right side of the road.

He is at the hospital checking up on the condition of Ian MacGregor. We’ll get you a report on MacGregor as soon as we hear anything.

On a side note, LUG’s wife is MacGregor’s economics professor. We wish him well and hope he didn’t just use this as an excuse to turn his paper in late.

We have solved some of our technical issues and those of you wanting to follow us on your mobile device, we have some good news: point your mobile browser to mobile.velonews.com. And there is a link at the top of the page to our live coverage. So those of you on iPhones can finally follow along.

of the Columbia and Astana teams has trimmed the advantage of the men in the break a bit.

At 68 miles, the gap is down to 4:30.

The weather hasn’t kept California bike fans from showing up to show their support for the Tour. We’re not surprised. Bike fans can’t afford to be fair weather friends, folks. The sedentary set gets more than fair doses of their sports, but we need to turn out in force to show that there’s an interest in our little niche of the professional sporting world.

Meanwhile, they are breaking out the umbrellas at the finish as the rain is beginning to fall in Modesto again. It’s a wet, wet week here in California.

remaining the gap is down to 3:45. Quick Step is pulling, too.

Hamilton Smith writes in to say

Since you guys are so very versatile in your reporting skills, and share my love of the Gem City, and of COURSE, the Pedal House, can you figure out a way to put in a big shout out to the Laramie Enduro, mega mountain bike race extraordinaire, August 1, 2009?! On-line registration just started last week.
Hamilton

No, no, sorry Hamilton. We can’t do that. It would be a conflict of interest almost akin to our mentioning the web site of the Laramie Enduro – which we believe is http://www.laramieenduro.org. Sorry Hamilton, we have our standards.

We’re guessing that the concerted effort of the sprinters’ teams will mean that the break will be pulled in. Not that were psychotic … sorry, that’s psychic… but our prediction is that the catch will be made at the nine-miles-to-go mark.

After that, our money (not that there’s much of it) is on Mark Cavendish. And, no, we won’t use our ability to edit these posts to make ourselves look smarter tomorrow.

it looks like the Columbia team is taking up the bulk of chasing duties. Right now, the gap is down to 3:20 with 29 very flat miles remaining.

at the front, with Quick Step, Columbia and Astan. The gap is coming down. We have 24 miles remaining.

It looks like the men in the break are just 19 miles from the finish. The gap is now 3:10.

The team has Thor in mind.

The gap is down to 2:45.

Our old friend is back. It’s beginning to pour again.

The gap is coming down. It’s now at 2:20. We’re getting conflicting distance reports, but that may have something to do with the shortening of the time to be spent on the finishing circuits. We’ll clear that up ASAP.

For those of you have comments and questions, feel free to hit the “contact our editors” button below or send a note directly to the LUG at Charles@Pelkey.com. We do read them all and we try to answer as many as we can.

Our man in the caravan, Neal Rogers – who was picked up hitchhiking this morning – says the gap is down to 1:55.

It looks like we have about 15 miles remaining.

The helicoptor is showing a shot of a farmer’s field with those plastic-covered hay bales used to spell out “Modesto loves the Tour.”

Nice.

Doug Gray writes in with an innovative suggestion:

Any change the TOC is looking at having a stage in Death Valley next year? No chance of rain there…
Doug

Heck, with the way things have gone in this tour, the valley would just happen to get a gully washer that day.

We’re gonna see a catch today. If you put your money on a sprinter (not that we’re encouraging gambling) you got it right today.

the gap has been trimmed to 1:35.

The peloton will cover only one lap around the finishing circuit, a decision prompted by the crappy weather (that’s a term of art in the science of meteorology, not just our gutter mouth taking over).

Sun? Sun? It really does exist up there. Wow. Cool. This can’t last.

The chase may come down to the final few kilometers. We have 18km remaining.

Back in the old days, the line out-of-sight-out-of-mind applied and breakaways benefitted. Now that we have radios, this catch may come down to the last few kilometers.

Hey, for you Versus viewers out there, how’s that hockey game? Okay, okay, we need to award the Versus network our “WTF moment of the day” here on VeloNews.com. WTF?

the gap is coming down. The peloton is ramping up the speed and the peloton is completely strung out (in the good way) as the Quick Step team moves to the front. We also see Andy Schleck (Saxo) putting in big pulls. The gap is down to 1:00.

Hockey? Okay, there’s proof for all of you who make a habit of slammin’ our French friends. They would never skip the finish of a Tour stage for freakin’ hockey. Screw it. I’m moving to Provence.

It’s closing in. The catch is about to happen.

Louder isn’t waiting for the inevitable and goes for it.

For our Versus viewers: “He shoots! He scores!”

With 8 miles to go Louder has been joined by Mollema.

the two men off the front can see the headlights of the caravan coming up behind them as they head into Modesto.

have been swept up.

Our Versus viewers will be disappointed to learn that there have been no body checks.

Our two leaders are across the line. That means they have one trip through a 5km circuit.

The peloton is coming up fast… the race clock says 11 seconds.

Louder is working, too, but they are about to be joined by a 120 or so other riders. The gap is still around 10 seconds. They seem to be giving up.

The peloton is all together now.

Quick Step and Cervello are up front. Astana is there just to protect GC.

Cervello is driving at the front.

Cervello is still leading. Cavendish is tucked in.

there is some serious sprinting talent up there.

Hushovd gets a lead out.

OH! Canvendish doesn’t grab Hincapie’s wheel! Mistake?

Whatever…. it’s Hushovd from Cervello Test who gets the win!!!

That was a beautiful finishing train.

Cervello did a picture-perfect lead-out for Hushovd. Cavendish? He sure picked the wrong wheel. Hincapie put in a HUGE effort only to look back and see no one was on his wheel.

1. Thor Hushovd (N), Cervello TestTeam
2. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank
3. Mark Renshaw (Aus), Columbia
4. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Slipstream
5. Mark Cavendish (GB), Columbia

heading to their hotels, much like horses are inclined to speed up as they get close to the barn after a long day in the rain. It may make it tough for the post-race interviews for any but the top riders.

Anyway folks. Thank you for tuning in. Stay tuned for results, photos and a full stage report.

We’ll be back tomorrow for full coverage of the fourth stage of the Amgen Tour of California.

For now, good luck and good night.