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Haedo wins stage 1 at Tour of California
It didn’t take long for the upstart Toyota-United team to make an impact on the American road-racing scene. Just a couple of weeks after announcing its team name and roster, Toyota-United’s four-time Argentinean champion, Juan Jose Haedo, scored the biggest win of his career in Monday’s opening road stage at the Amgen Tour of California, an 81.5-mile jaunt north from Sausalito to Santa Rosa.
"This was the first win for my Toyota-United team, and that is special," said the 25-year-old Haedo, who surprised some big-time sprinters with his powerful finishing kick. Launching his sprint from about 300 meters, Haedo beat Olaf Pollack (T-Mobile) and Stuart O’Grady (CSC), who finished second and third, respectively.
In the battle for the overall of the eight-day, 600-mile race between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Gerolsteiner’s Levi Leipheimer delighted his hometown fans in Santa Rosa by finishing in the main bunch and holding onto the leader’s jersey.
"There are no words to sum up the way I feel," said Leipheimer, who had to choke back tears during the podium presentation. "I got reports last night that they were expecting maybe 50,000 people today on the course, and I thought that was maybe a bit much, but we saw today there were at least that many people. I’m overwhelmed and very grateful. It’s a very special day for me."
Starting in Sausalito, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, the race’s first road stage took riders on a scenic jaunt up the California coast, and into Sonoma County. From the start, the day was expected to come down to a sprinter’s battle in Santa Rosa, where the large President’s Day crowd gathered for the finish on a picture-perfect afternoon.
After departing Sausalito, the field of 127 riders rolled up Highway 101 through the spectacular scenery of Mount Tamalpais, Muir Woods and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Leipheimer’s Gerolsteiner team controlled the pace early on until the day’s first action came just after the 20-mile marker. American Jackson Stewart (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada) and French rider Jean Marc Marino (Crédit Agricole) set off on a two-man break in the approach to the first sprint spot at Point Reyes.
Leipheimer began the day with a five-second lead over CSC’s Bobby Julich and a six-second lead over Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie. His objectives on Monday were clear: stay with those GC threats, please the crowds, and cash in on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take an international race leader’s jersey home to his own bed for the night.
Pre-race predictions for the short, rolling stage centered on teams harboring stage-win aspirations. Davitamon-Lotto had Fred Rodriguez as its top speedster, and CSC had a hungry Stuart O’Grady. Domestic teams that would be in the mix included Health Net-Maxxis (with sprinters Gord Fraser and Greg Henderson) and Haedo’s Toyota-United team.
Those two domestic teams are destined to develop into rivals on the National Racing Calendar, and the fact that Haedo struck first at a major U.S. race was a moment for the Toyota team to relish. "Tour of California, all the big teams, that’s the only way to do it," said Toyota-United rider Tony Cruz. "All the skeptics can become supporters now."
With Gerolsteiner content to let Stewart and Marino dangle off the front as the race headed north, the break built a maximum lead of 3:20 before the chase heated up behind them. Once they hit the day’s biggest climb, with about 30 miles to go, Stewart and Marino started to falter. Discovery Channel riders Vladimir Gusev and Jason McCartney lit a fire in the chase when they went to the front of the field on the Valley Ford road climb, and the gap started coming down quickly. The uncategorized climb was neither steep nor long, but the field began to splinter under pressure. That’s when Health Toyota-United took a hit as Ivan Dominguez, one of its sprinters, was dropped.
After that last climb, it was a flat 20-mile stretch to the finish. Stewart and Marino’s lead dwindled to less than a minute. The two were finally caught with 13 miles to go, and the jostling for position began. Gerolsteiner went to the front of the field as it charged into the first of three 3.5-mile finishing laps. That’s when Health Net took its own hit, a front flat by top finishing threat Fraser.
On the second of the three laps, Davitamon-Lotto riders took control, and it looked like Rodriguez, also a Bay Area resident, might have his shot at the win. It wouldn’t come quite so easily, though. T-Mobile took its shot at the front, and by the time the final lap began it was anybody’s guess.
"The finish was a little bit chaotic," said Haedo. "Gerolsteiner was trying to keep [Leipheimer] safe. All the sprinters were trying to get to the front. My teammates did a good job protecting me until the last lap, and I kind of went on my own. Lotto was at the front and I followed them."
Jelly Belly sprinter Alex Candelario said Haedo simply stepped up and stole the show. "It was really hectic the last three laps," Candelario said. "It was mano a mano. No one really had that good of a leadout except T-Mobile. Lotto was pretty organized, they had about three guys up there. Then Haedo popped it at 300 meters to go and he just smoked everyone. He was probably going three miles an hour faster than anyone else."
Showing mid-season form, Haedo blew past T-Mobile’s Olaf Pollack and CSC’s O’Grady to take the win by three bike lengths. "I work hard all winter, which is my summer in Argentina, to compete," Haedo said. "But I never expected to win with a gap like that."
The humble Haedo might not have expected to cruise past international speedsters like O’Grady, Pollack and Hincapie, but Leipheimer provided this last bit of insight from the man who finished third. "Stuey [O’Grady] told me Haedo just flat out dusted them."
Race notes
Asked if he is concerned about the fact that CSC has three riders in the top 10, while Discovery has five riders in the top 11, Leipheimer answered that even with only one GC card to play, the race lead is where Gerolsteiner would prefer to sit. "It doesn’t worry me. It’s the situation we’re in, we can’t change it, so we’re going to do the best with what we’ve got," Leipheimer said. "I’m the one leading the race, so they have to attack us. They have to go on the offensive. They have the more difficult job. Both teams have two or three guys who can win the overall. One of them is going to have to take a big chance. Tomorrow we’re going to have to take it kilometer by kilometer." Addressing Tuesday’s difficult final climb up Sierra Road, Leipheimer said it wasn’t the climb that would prove decisive, but what happens before the climb that could change the GC. "What teams are attacking, who gets away and how hard is it for my team to control?" Leipheimer said. "If we come to the climb and everything is within reach, I feel confident that no one is going to drop me. But it is going to be tricky because it is a long ways from the finish. You can’t go it alone. No one can go it alone. It wouldn’t be smart. Hopefully it will come down to a small group, we’ll get rid of a few guys, and then it will come down to [Wednesday’s] time trial." Race organizers’ error resulted in TIAA-CREF rider Taylor Tolleson being awarded the best-young-rider jersey instead of Sunday’s best young rider in the prologue, Zach Grabowski of Colavita Olive Oil. Both riders finished in the pack in Santa Rosa — however, Tolleson finished ahead of Grabowski on the stage, which may have contributed to the officials’ error. Brought onstage to receive the jersey, a reticent Tolleson clearly appeared confused. In what is perhaps a sign of things to come, TIAA-CREF’s Brad Huff, winner of the elite national criterium championship last year, finished fourth, ahead of fast finishers like George Hincapie (Discovery Channel), Viktor Rapinski (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home), René Haselbacher (Gerolsteiner), Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly) and Charles Dionne (Saunier Duval-Prodir).
The jerseys
Race leader: Leipheimer
Points leader: Haedo
Climber: Bernard Kohl (T-Mobile)
Best young rider: Grabowski
VeloNews senior writer Neal Rogers contributed to this report.
