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JJ Haedo makes it look easy
Slipstream-Chipotle splits the pack and the GC
Yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara had both hands up in the air well before any of the sprinters crossed the stage 1 Tour of California finish line — his CSC teammate JJ Haedo had the clear win.
After three laps of a crowd-packed Santa Rosa circuit, Haedo hit from his CSC leadout coming up from an underpass.
“When you see that last 200 meters you just go as hard as you can, and you don’t look back, otherwise you can lose,” Haedo said.
High Road’s Gerald Ciolek finished second on the stage up from Sausalito, with Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler in third.
With the win, Haedo took a record fifth California stage win after scoring two a piece in 2006 and 2007.
Cancellara not only finished in the front group to retain the jersey, but took some hard pulls on the front in the final laps to set up Haedo.
“Fabian is a little impatient,” Haedo said. “He’s got so much power in the legs you’ve got to tell that guy to hold on. I try to keep him patient.”
Coleman Valley Blues
After the flat, 2.1-mile prologue, stage 1 began with a handful of riders within seconds of the lead. With time bonuses available at three intermediate sprints and then the final, Slipstream’s Tyler Farrar and High Road’s Mark Cavendish were ready and able to take advantage of their sprints to snag some valuable seconds.
After the third intermediate sprint, Farrar was second on the road, just two seconds behind Cancellara, and Cavendish was third, four seconds back.
Then came the big climb of the day, as the peloton made a hard right off the coastal Highway 1 onto Coleman Valley Road. Slipstream took the front and set a mean tempo up and over the climb, spitting riders out the back the whole way.
In years past riders came off at this point, but then formed into cohesive chase groups on the descent with most able to rejoin the front group by Santa Rosa. Slipstream team boss Jonathan Vaughters had other plans. He had his guys keep the pressure on all the way into town.
The main casualties included Cavendish, who was caught out in a small group that included fellow sprinters Stuart O’Grady (CSC), Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) and Mario Cipollini (Rock Racing). Cavendish’s teammate Adam Hansen dropped back for Cavendish, and then rode himself nearly cross-eyed in pursuit. Although the group worked fairly well together with even Cipollini pulling through, they were ultimately outgunned by the Slipstream-driven peloton ahead.
“The boys were amazing today; they totally killed it,” Farrar said.
In Santa Rosa, CSC, Quick Step and Slipstream riders all jockeyed to get their trains into position. Quick Step was riding for Tom Boonen, CSC for Haedo, Slipstream for Farrar and High Road — with Cavendish caught out — for Gerald Ciolek. Coming into the final corner, Hincapie bumped Boonen and went down, reportedly sustaining road rash from head to toe. Hincapie was given the same time as the front group, where Boonen finished at the very back.
Solo Mission
Long before the action in Santa Rosa, BMC’s Jackson Stewart set out on what would prove to be a very long solo break. At mile 17, Stewart went clear, initially hoping for someone to join him. When no one came — and no one chased — Stewart put his head down and went for it.
“Our plan was definitely to be in a move, to be in the race. I don’t think we planned on me going alone. It just worked out that way,” said Stewart. “So, we just set our sights on the KOM jersey.”
His lead hit a maximum of 13 minutes. Finally, CSC started riding tempo. Health Net-Maxxis, Toyota-United and Slipstream all lent a few riders to the effort.
Hailing from Los Gatos, Stewart said the team was riding on home turf. BMC is a Swiss bicycle company, but team manager Gavin Chilcott lives in Santa Rosa.
“I’d say [Santa Rosa] is our home in the U.S.,” Stewart said.
In addition to rolling through all three intermediate sprints, Stewart easily took the KOM. So, despite being caught at the bottom of the descent around mile 78, Stewart had both the KOM and most aggressive jerseys at the end of the day for his efforts.
For Ciolek’s part, the young German sprinter now has the best young rider’s jersey. He sits in ninth place overall, nine seconds behind Cancellara.
Behind CSC, Slipstream had the best day GC-wise, with Farrar moving up to second overall, just two seconds out of the yellow. As to whether he would go for the two bonus intermediate sprints on stage 2, Farrar said the team would need to discuss it.
“We’re going to try to get the jersey,” Farrar said. “We’ll have to study the course tonight and make some decisions, but the way the team is riding right now I think these boys are capable of just about anything.”
Farrar’s PowerTap showed an average of 272 watts for the day, with a peak of 1406.
Cavendish flatted in the closing circuits, but was given a final time of 4:08:46, the same as the group he was with when he flatted, 5:17 behind the front group.
Following Cancellara and Farrar in the general classification are High Road’s Bradley Wiggins (4 seconds down) and Astana’s Levi Leipheimer (6 seconds back).
Tune in Tuesday morning for a stage preview and live coverage, beginning at 9:45 a.m. PST, and then full reports, photography and videos later in the day.
Race note
Brooke Miller (Team Tibco) edged Cheerwine’s Laura Van Gilder and Team High Road’s Emila Fahlin in an hourlong women’s criterium that preceded the arrival of the men's race and used portions of the finishing circuit in Santa Rosa.
"This was a really huge win for me because it was a really great field," said Miller. "It was really a thrill to be able to show how exciting women's racing is; we hope the crowds saw that. The racing was aggressive, fast and exciting."
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