The town of Solvang again played host to the Stage 5 time trial of the Amgen Tour of California and Levi Leipheimer again crushed all of the competition. And yet again, tasty Danish pastries were consumed by yours truly.
After the horrible conditions of the previous stage, partly sunny skies and dry roads were greatly appreciated by riders and fans alike. Some whining by local businesses and residents caused some changes to the course but the end result was the same, with Levi extending his lead in the GC and giving this little tourist town a heck of a show.
David Millar and Christian VandeVelde from Slipstream/Chipotle took second and third respectively but were really not close to the little bald man from Santa Rosa, whose winning margin was nearly thirty seconds. Fabian Cancellara and Dave Zabriskie both finished over a minute behind on the 15 mile course.
I will post some pictures and more commentary shortly but in the meantime, I’ll give a little insight into some of the things that stood out from my attendance at the race. I will elaborate on all of this when I get the photos up.
- Quick-Step seemed to have some of the largest crowds around the staging area where the riders were warming up. And the most people asking, “Who is that?”
- Dave Zabriskie and Steven Cozza’s mustaches are even better in person than on TV.
- Pat McQuaid and Jim Ochowicz are buddies. And kind of funny.
- There is a new Specialized angel. And Paolo Bettini was fully checking her out.
- Rock Racing has one giant entourage. And they all wear black jeans. Yes…black jeans.
- Michael Ball’s glasses are gigantic.
- Mario Cipollini like a real-life comic book character.
- Astana’s kits aren’t quite as heinous as I had originally thought. But they’re close.
- Bouyges Telekom may as well have not even been there.
- Bob Stapleton is a good guy.
- Oscar Friere is shorter than I thought.
- The long conversation between Friere, a few other Rabobank guys, Santiago Botero and Michael Ball was fascinating.
- Christian VandeVelde is coming out his shell after leaving CSC and starting to look like a threat to get some good wins this year.
- Dominique Rollin is a horse.
- Levi is what some would describe as “polished.”
- Older people love Leipheimer and say lots of things like “He seems like a nice young man.”
- I saw a guy that was on a couple episodes of “Friends” but I can figure out his name. I was standing next to him in the media pit at the awards presentation but it took me a while figure out where I knew him from. Weird.
- It was sad that Wherry, Baldwin and SoPro Jones were not in attendance so that I could introduce them to my father like last year.
Well, there are a lot of other things that I am anxious to write about from my day in Solvang but this list will have to suffice until I get the photos rolling. I’m pretty sure it will be worth the wait.
Next up, Santa Barbara. Good times will be had.
Likewise, sorry we salted your game like that. You were in the zone. Just wanted to get a few words before the paparazzi swarm.
Warming up is for suckers.
that was you guys??? i remember some people bugging me while iw as doing my very strict warm up routine. oh wait, no i absolutely hate being on a trainer, those 45 minutes the past 8 years i will never get back.
it was nice to meet you guys.
jones