2008 Amgen Tour of California - Prologue

Prologue: Palo Alto - Stanford University, 3.4 km

It was a short, flat and wickedly fast route that lay before the riders as they lined up in the starting hut today under sunny skies in Southern California to kick off the third Amgen Tour of California.

Riders began in Palo Altoand flew through a 3.4 km (2.1 mile) flat route ending with a full 360 degree loop around the Stanford Oval on the StanfordUniversitycampus before heading into the finish line.

132 riders were out to race today – 45 of them from the US. American Levi Leipheimer (Astana) won last year’s prologue and he was the heavy favorite to take the win today as well. However, today’s short, fast course was very reminiscent of the kind of course yo’d see at an individual pursuit event on the track and Team High Road just happens to have brought with them the current world pursuit champion, Bradley Wiggins, who is sitting out the Copenhagen track world cup to be here in California.

The first rider to start today was Iker Camao of Saunier Duval-Scott. Health Net’s John Murphy came out of the gate shortly afterwards and set the fastest time with 4’04 but he didn’t hold onto the lead for very long once Dave Zabriskie (Slipstream) hit the road and set the new time to beat of 3′59.58. The saddle on Zabriskie’s bike today was decked out with an American flag – a man happy to be riding at home.

But Zabriskie’s time turned out to not be enough when Swedish rider Gustav Larsson (CSC) shaved a few tenths of second off of his time hitting the line at 3.59.19.

An American favorite, Tom Danielson (Slipstream) has been struggling with some injury and illness, and was supposed to be in Europe racing this month but his team decided this would be a better race for him. He rode a time of 4’11. And his former Discovery teammate, Jason McCartney, now riding with Team CSC, clocked in at 4′10.52.

The day’s resident rock star was certainly Mario Cipollini who has come out of retirement to join the controversial Rock Racing Team for 2008. Cipollini was a crowd favorite today and was followed along the course by the Rock Racing team car – a Cadillac of course. Cipollini ended his day with a time of 4′08.63, well outside of the top ten but still impressive for someone who’s been out of the saddle for a while.

About halfway through the stage, 23-year old Tyler Farrar (Slipstream) took over the first place slot with a time of 3′56.46. An amazing ride from the young American who moved over to the Slipstream team from the Cofidis squad this year.

Tom Boonen of the Quick Step team is here in the US for his first visit to the Tour of California. He clocked in today with a respectable 4′04.56 and was greeted at the finish line by a crowd of cheering fans.

Sure enough, Bradley Wiggins (High Road) put in an incredible performance, no doubt feeling right at home on a flat 3.4 km course. He smashed Farrar’s time and clocked in at 3’55.98. Wiggins became the one to beat, but only for a short time as the World Time Trial Champion, Fabian Cancellara (CSC) took to the course and did his title proud putting up an amazing 3′51.21.

George Hincapie (High Road) - a favorite of many of the fans lining the roads today - came it at 4′01.94 putting him well outside of the top ten.

Leipheimer came onto the course last and flew through the finish in 3′57.52, the best of the GC contenders, but not enough to beat Cancellara’s unbelievable time on this stage and securing a win for the Swiss rider who will wear yellow going into tomorrow’s Stage 1 from Sausalito to Santa Rosa.