Live Update Archive: 2009 AToC Stage 2 (Sausalito to Santa Cruz)

to VeloNews.com’s Live Coverage of the second stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, a 115.9-mile (186.6km) ride from Sausalito to Santa Cruz.

Today’s stage will mark the first time the race crosses that icon of the Bay Area, the Golden Gate Bridge. Closing the most direct road from Marin County to San Francisco is a sure sign of the growing political and economic muscle this race is beginning to wield in California.

We have an early start slated today, with the peloton rolling out of Sausalito at 8:30 a.m. That’s bright and early, especially after yesterday’s long and wet ride from Davis to Santa Rosa.

After crossing the bridge, the peloton hits the streets of San Francisco and then heads to another California icon, Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. The route is flanked by the Pacific Ocean on the right and towering Redwood forests on the left.

The route is highlighted by a couple of long, moderate climbs on Tunitas Creek Road and Bonny Doon Road followed by long, sphincter-puckering descents, which will be dicey if the roads are wet. The finish in Santa Cruz could be settled by the sprinters in the field, but what the heck, that’s how we thought yesterday’s stage was going to end. Who knows? If all this stuff were 100-percent predictable, there’d be no reason to hold the race.

Despite predications of a field sprint, the weather shook up the GC picture. Take a look:
Top 15, after Stage 1
1. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Rock Racing in 04:15:46
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, at 01:02
3. David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Slipstream, at 01:03
4. Michael Rogers (Aus), Team Columbia-High Road, at 01:03
5. Lance Armstrong (USA), Astana, at 01:05
6. Christopher Horner (USA), Astana, at 01:09
7. Thomas Lövkvist (S), Team Columbia-High Road, at 01:13
8. José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Sp), Astana, at 01:13
9. Vincenzo Nibali (I), Liquigas, at 01:13
10. Robert Gesink (Nl), Rabobank, at 01:14
11. Oscar Sevilla (Sp), Rock Racing, at 01:14
12. Jens Voigt (G), Team Saxo Bank, at 01:15
13. Steve Morabito (Swi), Astana, at 01:15
14. Jurgen Van De Walle (B), Quick Step, at 01:16
15. Ivan Basso (I), Liquigas, at 01:17

The weather hasn’t improved much over yesterday.

The National Weather Service forecast for San Francisco calls for showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms. Highs will only reach the lower 50s. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph.

We’ll be providing weather updates throughout the morning before today’s start.

. . . and not much better at the start. What is it with evil weather and national holidays, anyway?

VeloNews honcho Ben Delaney notes that the hunt for the general classification has slimmed drastically after stage 1. “Coming into the race, common wisdom held that the race would be won in the Solvang time trial by a rider who could also climb well. Francisco Mancebo flipped the switch,” he says.

Headlights and rain capes are once again the order of the day as the peloton gets stage 2 under way.

Chris Horner is still smiling.

The recession appears to be having its effect on the crucial team-kit industry. We’re not seeing a lot of official team jackets in the bunch — just lots of clear, gray black and otherwise-generic rain capes.

… California, here we come. OK, we’re already there, but jeez, how about a little room for poetic license?

It’s a very misty morning. One heckuva scenic, too.

They’re using the oncoming-traffic lane.

Looks like a few of the guys are taking the opportunity to spectate a bit. It is a spectacular view from this bridge of bridges.

. . . for arranging this magnificent start. And to the hard-core fan base lining the bridge in the sort of weather that led Mark Twain to note that the coldest winter he’d ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.

Getting set for the official race start.

And we appear to be under way. Updates are once again slightly spotty due to the weather.

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.

is of the front, but we can’t tell which one. We’re working on an ID, but we can’t see his number … wait… it’s Pieter Weening

is joined by Alexander Moos … and Moos is a little more daring on the descents.

Two more riders are joining up. We need to ID them, as well. Stand by.

Poor Rock Racing is under fire. There are a ton of attacks coming off the front. We see a new group of four, including an Astana and a Liquigas coming up to the leading four.

We now have a group of eight riders off the front, but the time gap is … well, I was going to say small, but now it’s non-existent. They are all caught.

Race radio reports that Michael Rogers (Columbia) has flatted.

from a rider wearing black… not easy to ID.

He’s joined by two more, a Garmin-Sliptream and an Ouch rider. The gap is very small.

We have sixe riders up front. Cameron Evans is the OUCH.

And another two riders are working their way up.

the weather continues to be less-than-pleasant. It’s wet, wet, wet here at Pacifica.

We are beginning to ID some of the riders.

Steven Cozza is the Garmin rider. He and Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) have moved ahead of the rest of the break and they are building a nice little gap.

Have a nice little gap. The peloton is not lolly-gagging today though. The chase is on. The first one to suffer from that is Rogers, who is still trying to reconnect after that flat.

Grischa Niermann began the day in 34th place at 5:10 and Cozza is 40th at 5:13.

Dutch rider Joost Posthuma of the Rabobank team took the overall lead in the Ruta del Sol on Monday after the first stage proper.

Italy’s Danilo Napolitano won the stage, a 169.2 kilometer ride from La Guardia de Jaen to Humilladero. Posthuma replaced Spain’s Xavier Tondo, who won Sunday’s prologue.

are now back in a group of eight as the first chase group pulled them back. It looks like they have a small 25-second gap. The rain appears to be easing off a bit.

Up front in this group of eight we have Steven Cozza (Garmin-Slipstream), Grischa Niermann (Rabobank), Stef Clement (Rabobank), Cameron Evans (OUCH), Markus Zberg (BMC), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and Carlos Barredo (Quick Step).

The peloton is only about thirty seconds back there.

was temporary. It’s still wet out there.

isn’t all that great. It looks like most of the work is falling to only four of the riders in the break. That will need to change.

We are still quite early into today’s stage. On the road for about an hour now and have yet to reach the sprint at Half Moon Bay, which is at 40km

It’s tough in the rain, but here’s who we can ID in that group:
Steven Cozza
Thomas Peterson (Garmin-Slipstream)
Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank)
Stef Clement (Rabobank)
Grischa Niermann (Rabobank) Carlos Barredo (Quick Step)

Markus Zberg (BMC Racing Team)
Cameron Evans (OUCH)
Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling)
Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1)

Our latest time check gives these guys about a minute. Jacques-Maynes is the best-placed in the bunch.

At this point, the race has covered only 16 miles. Keep in mind that the trip across the Golden Gate Bridge was part of a longer-than-usual neutral zone today.

is looking rather sedate today, all of them clad in gray rain jackets, so not much of the usual bling.

The whole team is working hard at the front. The peloton is now 1:25 back, so the 10 men up front are getting into the groove and should stay away for a bit.

While it still looks wet enough to make Noah worried, the riders in the break are taking their jackets off.

The team cars are finally moving into the gap between the peloton and the break. The gap is 1:30.

While Highway 1 is running along the coast, it is no walk on the beach. Anyone who has traveled on this road – or hitchhiked it like I did in my hippy days – you know this is a hilly affair.

is now at 1:40. We are still encountering some problems getting milage checks. We appear to be at 22 miles.

We don’t know much about Valeriy Kobzarenko. The Team Type 1 rider is a 32-year-old from Kiev in Ukraine. He won the overall in the 2006 Tour de Beauce. He’s an old trackie, too, and was second in the team pursuit at the junior world championships in 1998.

at the 40-mile mark will be the start of the Tunitas Creek road, a gorgeous climb up Redwood covered hills.

That reminds us. For those of you familiar with the terrain along the coast here, it may not be much of a surprise to watch the video we received late last night. As non-Californians, it was a shocker. We loaded it on YouTube and want to thank Alex Tilson for sending that one in::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByjIi_Hk5Fc

The peloton may have something to watch out for on that climb today.

The men in the break are on flatter terrain right now and the gap is holding at about 1:30.

by one of our favorite personalities in the sport:

To Charles Pelkey from Mike Neel,
Charles,the 1971 Tour Of California raced across the Golden Gate bridge 100% sure. Mike

We will, of course, trust Mike’s memory more than we will our own. Mike was probably there.

For those of you who don’t who Mike Neel is, he was really the first American pro of the modern era to race in Europe, riding for – if I recall – the old Magniflex team. Magniflex was (is) a mattress maker and as part of his sponsorship, Neel had a job working in the mattress factory in the off-season. That’s not quite the deal they’re offering top pro’s these days, but those were different times, I guess.

Neel went on to be director for the 7-11 team and was the man behind the wheel of the 7-Eleven car when Andy Hampsten won the 1988 Giro.

There was a sprint at Half Moon Bay.

Meanwhile Leipheimer has flatted. He will get back, for sure.

was relaxed while his wheel was being changed. He’s working his way back into the peloton. No worries.

The weather seems to be getting better. The roads are still wet, but not splashing anymore.

Which puts the break at the 32 mile mark. The gap has grown to about 2:35.

It’s a moderate wind – coming off of the Pacific – out there, but you can seeing a bit of echelon-ing. The lead group is extending the advantage and it’s up to nearly 3:00. The chase duties are largely falling to Rock Racing, a team intent upon protecting the advantage of race leader Francisco Mancebo.

The men in the break will be hitting the lower slopes of of the day’s first climb, Tunitas Creek Road.

The rain has eased up and riders are approaching the climb up Tunitas Creek Road. It’s absolutely beautiful here, with green, green fields and Redwoods dotting the hills. This is our favorite part of California – bar none.

The roads are now lined by fans. It’s is just stunning here.

on the lower slopes and the gap is now 3:35.

but the roads are wet, wet, wet on the climb. There are plenty of leaves on the road, which make the descent pretty dicey.

the pavement on the climb is quite good. It appears to have been recently resurfaced. In fact, it’s so smooth that it may prove to be slick on the way down.

is setting tempo at the front of his Rock Racing team back in the peloton.

It’s Quick Step’s Carlos Barredo is really driving the break on this climb.

Look! Up in the sky above the finish in Santa Cruz! What is that large yellow object up there? It seems to generate heat, too. What is that strange thing?

Is still motoring. He is hoping to move up on GC it seems. He was in that 5:00 group yesterday, on a day that was not supposed to shake up the standings like it did.

It’s clouding up again. The large yellow object has gone away.

Correction the break is nearing the top of the climb, but not over yet. Meaning that about 69 miles remain in today’s stage.

The men in the break are now over the top of the climb. Sorry about the earlier confusion. We are flying blind again. This time because the tree cover is so heavy, it’s keeping the signal from the motos from reaching the plane.

We have no reports of any troubles on the descent, but we’re still in radio/video silence.

The men up front are: Steven Cozza (Garmin-Slipstream)
Thomas Peterson (Garmin-Slipstream)
Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank)
Stef Clement (Rabobank)
Grischa Niermann (Rabobank)
Carlos Barredo (Quick Step)
Markus Zberg (BMC Racing Team)
Cameron Evans (OUCH)
Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling)
Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1)

We’re looking for a good time check.

On the way down, it looks like the men in the break are now 4:05 ahead of the peloton.

It’s clearing up. The rain has stopped in Santa Cruz. It continues to improve as the day goes along.

Our leaders are now 4:11 ahead of the peloton. We need to get a location.

are out on the flats again and out of the trees. Our latest time check gives these fellas a nice little lead of 4:30.

The peloton is still being led by Rock Racing. They are not getting any help up there.

up front. Every one of these guys appears to be pulling his weight and there is a nice pace line out there. In fact, with 10 guys sharing the load, they have a significant advantage over the peloton, which is led solely by the Rock guys.

is back. The clouds have parted and it looks like things are going to dry out between here (the 61 mile to go mark) and the finish.

Racing driving the chase. They are not getting any help. With the climb up Bonny Doon Road ahead, we can imagine that Rock will be quite vulnerable on that slope. We’re betting on some serious attacks from Astana and Liquigas when that road turns skyward.

The leaders are out on the windy flats along the coast. We’re guessing that they’re about five feet above sea level here, but the road includes a lot of rollers.

is now down to 3:05.

Here’s an interesting question:

Based on your observations of racing fans around the world, do you have any sense of which team has the fittest fans? or fans with the highest percentage of fitness? how about fans with the greatest “thermal mass”?

You have us. We have made observations about what countries have the best- and worst-looking fans… and Spain and Italy have to rank up there for the former. Out of the interest of discretion, we’ll not mention the latter candidates.

Well at least there on the coast.

we may see things heat up in the peloton. The Rock Racing squad has been working at the front of the field all day. The wind is now blowing hard.

And we got a new time check and it puts the 10 leaders 3:30 ahead of the field.

Folks, we’ve received several notes about Floyd Landis dropping out. He is still in the field and has not withdrawn. The biggest name to pull out was yesterday’s withdrawal of Fabian Cancellara, who pulled out in the feedzone yesterday.

the guys in the break are working really well together. Their paceline is working well, with riders taking short pulls.

Our latest info puts our race leaders at the 78-mile mark, so we have just under 40 miles remaining.

is pulling up to speak with Marcus Zberg in the break. The car is being driven by John LaLangue, who was the man behind the wheel on that now-infamous stage of the Tour de France when Floyd Landis won the day and set himself up for the Tour win. The two were quite close, but that friendship ended after the positive doping test, which resulted in Landis’ win being taken away. LeLangue was quite critical of his star rider after that. We have not seen the two interacting here.

Word from the peloton is that Lance Armstrong has just crashed after colliding with a race photographer. We just hope it wasn’t Graham or Casey.

We’ll try to get more details on that one.

We got a stage prediction from Jonathan Vaughters manager of Garmin-Slipstream. The Garmin Jedi Master says he’s betting on his rider Thomas Peterson, for the win and no real change in GC.

is that several riders crashed. We have few details and haven’t seen any of the damage.

Word is that Armstrong was, indeed, among those that went down. He’s being towed back to the peloton.

He is just back from Europe where he was recently elected as president of the AIGCP (Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels), the organization that represents ProTour teams. Apparently he’s now insisting that we refer to him as “King” Vaughters.

Welcome home your majesty.

the peloton. We have not spotted Armstrong, but we do believe that he is back.

Meanwhile, the escapees have benefitted from the disruption. They are now 4:35 ahead of the main field.

the break is still cruising along and it appears they have left the rain and heading into the sun.

is now 4:41 and both the break and the peloton are in the sun. The roads are drying up.

from Mr. Vaughters:

Well… I think there will be an elite group of 10-15 or so that goes away on the climb and catch most of the break…

Who will make the cut?

Levi
Mancebo
Zabriskie
Danielson
Gesink
Rogers
Lance
Horner

Something like that…

Then 1 or 2 guys from the break will make it in. I’m betting Tom Peterson is one, but if he’s with anyone, he won’t outsprint them.

That’s an interesting call and one that may well come true on the slopes of the next climb, a tough Cat. 3 with ramps that get as steep as 14 percent in spots.

He’s back with his team car and handing his jacket back. He seems none the worse for wear. It doesn’t look like any of his kit is shreaded.

Up front, some of the men in the break are stripping off their outer layers of clothing. Baredo has shed leg warmers, arm warmers and his wet, wet gloves.

are closing in on the climb up Bonny Doon Road. They are about five miles from the start of the climb and that climb is reason enough for folks to be pulling off all of that rain gear.

the leaders are now 4:32 ahead of the peloton. The leaders are at 91 miles, so we have 24 miles remaining in today’s stage.

One reader drops a note to answer an earlier question:

At least most bike race fans are in better shape than NASCAR fans!

Well, that’s an easy call. We’ve only been to a couple NASCAR events, but even though we don’t get to ride as much as we did in the old days, one of the cool things about NASCAR is that it’s one of the few times when even an out-of-shape cyclist can feel skinny.

Please note, we are not among those that think all auto racing is boring. Rally is cool … sort of like watch Paris-Roubaix, but at 100mph.

are at the 94 mile mark and the climb should kick in pretty soon here.

Meanwhile, the Astana mechanic is working on Leipheimer’s bike.

It’s raining again at the finish.

are now on the lower slopes of Bonny Doon Road.

Our race leaders are now 20 miles from the finish. The road includes that long climb and then a fast, fast descent into Santa Cruz.

The gap is 3:55. The peloton is ramping up the speed. We will see attacks on the climb. That’s almost certain.

has jumped out of the break. He is feeling strong and knows that the peloton is going to hit this climb in top gear.

is off on his own.

Back in the peloton, it’s the Astana team at the front. We do not see Mancebo – the yellow jersey.

At the front of the peloton. The pace is hard enough to put the yellow jersey in trouble. Popovych set the tempo and now Leipheimer is moving ahead of the field. He has a big, big gap.

has already caught and passed Clement from the break.

It looks like Ivan Basso is giving chase.

is powering on his own.

Correction, the Liquigas rider who has latched on to Leipheimer’s wheel is Nibali and not Basso.

Saxo Bank rider development manager Bobby Julich was asked whether or not Levi Leipheimer can take 1:02 out of Francisco Mancebo in the 15-mile stage 6 time trial in Solvang. He answered with: “With two fingers in his nose and a hand tied around his back.”

Meanwhile Barredo is being egged on by a guy in a Devil costume. Didi Senft he ain’t but it’s the thought that counts.

is on his own, chasing the survivors from the break. He appears to have dropped Nibali.

Just gauging from the identifiable fans he’s passing, it looks like Leipheimer is only a minute or so behind Barredo.

other riders from the break. Barredo is still up front on his own, but his advantage is no where near the three minutes he had at the base. He has 5km to go to the top of the climb.

Leipheimer, meanwhile, is catching and passing riders from the break. We still need to ID who is up there in between Leipheimer and Barredo.

Is leading the race, soloing up the final kilometers of Bonny Doon road.

Levi Leipheimer is clearly riding faster, but we do not have an accurate time gap.

Can’t be more than 45 seconds ahead of Leipheimer. We still don’t have a clear picture of how many riders from the break have been caught.

It looks like McCartney and Cozza have caught Barredo!

Correction it was Peterson.

Leipheimer has caught Barredo now. Liepheimer is chasing McCartney and Peterson now. He’s caught ‘em.

He’s now at the front of the race and Peterson is holding his wheel. McCartney his struggling.

are over the top of the climb.

Hey folks, looks like Vaughters called this one.

is over the top. He’s chasing hard at about 1:00. He’s one of the riders who was hurt by yesterday’s weird timing rule.

is about to latch back on to Leipheimer and Peterson. So we have three riders at the front of the race. It’s nearly all downhill from here.

if that. The three men up front are flying down the descent. We’ll see how the finish shakes out.

Leipheimer’s big concern, of course, is putting time into Mancebo, but it looks like he’s lost more than a minute.

is flying down, too, so he may reconnect with Leipheimer. He just zooooomed past Barredo.

is putting time on Peterson and McCartney.

Peterson has caught on, after he jumped past a more cautious McCartney.

Leipheimer is pounding the pedals on the downhill. McCartney is clearly the most cautious of the three.

has been gapped on a slight uphill section.

Peterson is fighting to get a draft off the tiny Leipheimer. Leipheimer is strong and he really doesn’t offer much benefit to the guy trying to stay on his wheel.

is holding his own.

He’s well down on GC (now at 7:02), so his big hope is to get a stage win. Leipheimer, meanwhile, may want the stage win, but he’s really intent on getting time. That’s his big priority.

are now within five miles of the finish.

It looks like they have a good 30 seconds on McCartney now.

who has been on the attack nearly all day, is holding his own and not getting dropped by Leipheimer.

is 1:20 to Mancebo, Leipheimer is the race leader on the road.

Leipheimer and Peterson are in Santa Cruz.

is at 1:05. That includes Mancebo, Armstrong, et. al.

We don’t see Mancebo in there.

the sun is out and the two leaders are coursing through town.

are 10, 6 and 4 seconds.

So it looks like Leipheiber is safely in the overall lead.

Are within the final 1.7 miles.

continues to pull. Peterson is tucked in getting as much of a draft as he can.

1km to go

Leipheimer’s wheel.

they are flying!

and wins!

Leipheimer gets the yellow jersey.

now we have to see when Mancebo comes in. He was not in that big Armstrong group.

as part of a big group.

He loses 1:49 and that means he loses the jersey. Levi Leipheimer is the new leader of the Tour of California.

Quite a performance today. Leipheimer is a deserving race leader, soloing up and over Boony Doon Road.

Thanks for tuning in folks. It’s been a long day in the saddle – five hours and six minutes today.

We’ll be back tomorrow. Thanks again, folks.

Check back soon for a complete race report, photos and results.

Auf Wiedersehen.