ToC - Levi Makes His Move

Stage Three: Modesto - San José, 152.2 km 

The sun was shining on a warmer and drier peloton today as they set out from Modesto; likely a welcome change for the riders who spent hours in the cold rain yesterday.  

Today was the first day of the race when the GC board was expected to start to take shape and where the real contenders for the overall win would begin to come shining through.  The big climb on today’s course was an HC climb called Mt Hamilton.  Four smaller Category 4 climbs lead up to Mount Hamilton.  The other substantial climb today on today’s course was Sierra Road, a Category 1 climb near the end of the stage.  There was only one intermediate sprint today in the town of Patterson just before the hills.   

A flurry of attacks marked the first few kilometers as rider after rider from all different teams tried to get away but each was checked by the peloton. 

Finally, around the 15 km mark, a break away group including Paul Martens (Rabobank), Scott Nydam (BMC) and Cyril Lemoine (Credit Agricole) made it away and opened up a gap of almost a minute.  They went through the intermediate sprint with Martens in first and Lemoine in second. 

Steven Cozza (Slipstream) made a move shortly after the sprint and managed to get away from the pack and pull himself up to the break joining the trio of leaders who had built up a gap of just over 5 minutes.  Levi Leipheimer was keeping his Astana boys up at the front, pushing the pace, making sure that the gap didn’t grow too much.  This was an important day for Levi to make a move. 

Heading up the first KOM climb Kevin Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies) abandoned the race and was taken away in an ambulance.  Not sure exactly if he was in a crash or something else happened. 

Scott Nydam attacked going over the first KOM – where do these BMC guys find the energy? He took the points for first followed by Martens (Rabobank) andLemoine (Credit Agricole) in second and third.  Astana led the rest of the peloton over the first climb about 4’50 behind the leaders. 

Over the second KOM the break was still almost 5 minutes ahead and again Nydam took first place over the top with Martens in second.   

Sadly, after one of the best days of his life as a pro yesterday, young Tyler Farrar (Slipstream) wearing the leader’s jersey today actually abandoned the race on the relatively flat section between the second and third KOM climb.  He is apparently battling a stomach bug.  A great effort by a young rider who clearly has a great career ahead of him. 

Over the third KOM climb the breakaway group was starting to look like they were feeling the effort – especially Nydam who spent almost the entire day yesterday riding solo through the cold rain.  Nydam took top points again over the third KOM climb with Cozza and Martens in second and third.  Looks like the KOM jersey will move within the BMC team tonight from Jackson Stewart to Scott Nydam.  Incredible work by BMC so far in this race. 

As the race closed in on Mt. Hamilton CSC joined Astana on the front as the big GC riders started to get themselves in position to make their mark.  They brought the gap down to 2 minutes.  The conditions atop Mt. Hamilton were brutal - just above freezing, thick fog, and limited visibility. 

The breakaway began to fracture as the peloton closed in.  Eventually it was just Martens out ahead still holding onto about 20 seconds going up the brutal climb.  He was caught as the peloton grinded up the hill with riders being dropped off the back all over the place and Astana’s Jose Luis Rubiera doing a nice job of setting pace for Leipheimer. 

A lead group of about 20 riders including Leipheimer, Hincapie, Bettini, Friere, Rubiera and David Millar crested the hill first and then began the long, treacherous decent through the cold wind and fog.  The lead group went screaming down the decent with Hincapie out in front managing to open up a gap of about 25 seconds over the rest of the front group. 

Astana could not let Hincapie get away - he’s a big threat to Levi for GC - and with five riders, including Leipheimer, they flat out chased Hincapie to the foot of the Sierra Road climb where they finally caught him.  The leaders then passed Hincapie who was spent from the effort and it was about six riders who continued the trek up the brutal climb including Leipheimer, Chris Horner (Astana), Dave Zabriskie (Slipstream) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank).  Horner and Zabriskie got dropped and Gesnik began to attack to see if Levi could hold on.  Levi looked strong and marked every attack with ease.  Zabriskie and Horner found their way back up and as they crested the hill.  Leipheimer picked up the pace, not wanting Zabriskie to catch up. 

The rest of the large group of 12 riders that was just behind the leaders caught up to Zabriskie and Horner on the decent and the group of 14 were now intent on catching Leipheimer and Gesnik who were hurtling down about a minute ahead.  The chase group included Cancellara who, after Tyler Farrar’s removal on the road today, was the virtual holder of the yellow jersey, six seconds ahead of Leipheimer. 

With 5 km to go Leipheimer and Gesnik still had a gap of just under a minute; Gesnik open-mouthed gasping for air, Leipheimer in full time-trial position with the Astana car beside him shouting out encouragement. 

1 km to go and the gap closed to 20 seconds.  Leipheimer took his turn on the front clearly feeling the pain.  They managed to stay away.  Gesnik took the stage win - Leipheimer didn’t contest it – and Leipheimer put some much needed time into Cancellara moving 13 seconds ahead of the Swiss rider on GC. 

21-year old Gesnik gets the biggest win of his career thus far and Leipheimer moves into the yellow jersey as we head into Stage Four tomorrow.  Stage Five on Friday should be an exciting one now as we move into the individual time trial with only 13 seconds separating two of best time trialists in the world.

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