Feb 21, 2006
Hincapie and Disco Take Over
Stage 3 lived up to some of the hype that was being built up as a decisive stage. The strength of the Discovery Channel and CSC teams showed as they both had numbers in the final run in. The Disco team worked hard for George Hincapie who was probably the best sprinter out of the 23 man group that barreled into San Jose. Levi Leipheimer was left alone as the only Gerolsteiner man in the final group.
With a ten second time bonus Hincapie has a not-to-comfortable cushion going into the stage 3 time trial. Hincapie is a rouleur who can crank a big gear for hours, but Leipheimer is no slouch in the TT. Not sure where in the overall standings put Bobby Julich, but he was in the final group and could be another rider in striking distance for the overall. Also, Floyd Landis is in the mix for tomorrow even though it is painful to watch the man do a time trial. Move your seat up or bars back please…
Today’s stage shook out quite a few riders, but the race for the overall is still very close. Discovery Channel did look impressive as they worked hard to bring George to the line. CSC has the numbers too especially if Julich can win Wdnesday.
The Amgen Tour of California site has to be commended for providing video and live updates of the race. I was able to watch the major highlights and get a good sense for how the race played out. Who needs the ESPN2 coverage when the site gives you good info like this. Sorry, that was a Bob Roll moment of gushing, but more racing sites should emulate the ToC site. Only caveat is that the site does not list overall results very quickly. There are no overall or stage finish results even three hours after the finish.