February 21, 2006
Tour of Califrornia -- Stage Two
George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) grabbed the victory in stage two of the Tour of California from a small group of about a dozen riders and, with the time bonus for his win, also took the overall lead. In the front group with Hincapie were Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto), who finished second, Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), Bobby Julich (CSC), Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto), Floyd Landis (Phonak), Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval-Prodir), Dave Zabriskie (CSC), Christian Vande Velde (CSC), and Michael Barry (Discovery Channel). Finishing a few seconds behind this group were Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance), Nathan O'Neill (Health Net p/b Maxxis), Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel), Saul Raisin (Credit Agricole), and Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel). To read more about this exciting stage, click here (Tour site) and here (VeloNews).
Here's what the overall standings look like after stage two:
1. George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) 7.20.28 2. Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) 0.04 3. Bobby Julich (CSC) 0.09 4. Floyd Landis (Phonak) 0.10 5. David Zabriskie (CSC) 0.13 6. Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) 0.16 7. Christopher Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) 0.19 8. Tom Danielson (Discovery Channel) 0.21 9. Christian Vande Velde (CSC) 0.21 10. Michael Barry (Discovery Channel) 0.22 12. Jason McCartney (Discovery Channel) 0.23 13. Gilberto Simoni (Saunier Duval-Prodir) 0.24 14. Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance) 0.24 18. Nathan O'Neill (Health Net p/b Maxxis) 0.26 19. Saul Raisin (Credit Agricole) 0.33
With a 17-mile time trial on deck for stage three, I suspect Zabriskie will be in the lead tomorrow evening, with Leipheimer in second. I'd also like to see Zajicek do a good ride and sneak into the top 10.
Click here to check out photos from stage two taken by Graham Watson. For more photos posted at Cyclingnews.com, click here.
It appears that the Mexican National Team did not have a very good day, as it lost four riders, i.e., half of its team. One of its remaining riders, Domingo Gonzalez, is also in last place overall, more than 32 minutes behind Hincapie.
As I was following the live coverage on Cyclingnews.com, I found the following post quite interesting:
On the way down [the Palmares climb, I believe] there was unfortunately a few protesters holding a sign saying "Not on our roads." Apart from this there has been nothing but support for the race.
Why would anyone bother to protest? It's not like their protest is going to make a difference by the time the race goes by -- on closed roads.
Posted by Out of True at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)