The early season was a busy time for Bissell’s Head Mechanic Ben Oliver, known as BenO. In January, the team raced in the Tour de San Luis in Argentina followed by a  week long training camp which left him 10 days to get ready for the Amgen Tour of California working with the other team mechanic Jim Oliver.

“So it was just 10 days and we had some stuff show up late and I was building TT bikes that week and just kind of praying to the god of products.”

Every year, brand new equipment is received and bikes that fit each rider’s specification must be built. For the race in California, a total of 20 Pinarello Prince were built for the 8 riders on the roster.

“Every rider has two road bikes, a race bike and a home bike,  and fourteen time trial bikes in total. So for this race, there are 8 guys, 8 road bikes, 8 TT bikes and 4 spares.”

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Two Million Fans Turned Out to Watch the Best Field Ever Assembled on U.S. Soil Cycle Across California

ESCONDIDO, CA– After nine challenging and epic days of cycling through more than 750-miles of scenic California roads, and a thrilling fight to the finish, Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Astana was crowned champion of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, solidifying a three-peat for the California resident. With a week-long total time of 31 hours, 28 minutes and 21 seconds, Leipheimer accepted the highly coveted title of race champion in front of massive cheering crowds in Escondido, which brought the race total to 2 million fans along the race route from Sacramento to Escondido. In a nine-day battle against the best field ever assembled to compete in the United States, which included Tour de France winners, Olympic medalists and World Champions, Frank Schleck (LUX) of Saxo Bank claimed the Stage 8 win.

“I’ve been trying to think about how to articulate this and it’s tough,” said Leipheimer. “To win it once, that was huge. To win it twice, that was almost a little bit of a surprise and almost felt like luck. But now, to have won the Amgen Tour of California three times, it’s the sweetest victory of all. I think we proved that we were the best team in the race. There is no question about that.”

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Stage 8 top-five finishers:
1) Fränk Schleck (LUX), Team Saxo Bank
2) Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Liquigas
3) George Hincapie (USA), Team Columbia-High Road
4) Rory Sutherland (AUS), Ouch Presented by Maxxis
5) Grischa Niermann (GER), Rabobank

Final General Classification:
1) Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
2) David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Slipstream
3) Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Columbia-High Road
4) Jens Voigt (GER), Team Saxo Bank
5) Thomas Lövkvist (SWE), Team Columbia-High Road

Jersey winners include:
Amgen Race Leader Jersey- Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey- Fränk Schleck (LUX), Team Saxo Bank
Herbalife Sprint Jersey- Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team Columbia-High Road
Rabobank Best Young Rider Jersey- Robert Gesink (NED), Rabobank
California Travel & Tourism Commission King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey- Jason McCartney (USA), Team Saxo Bank

More to come…

BMC’s Jeff Louder is no stranger to breakaways, in fact he is an artist at the art of getting into a long move. Twice – so far – at the Amgen Tour of California, the 31-year old American has been in two long breaks for an estimated 178 kilometers, in the wind showing off his team colors. Louder was voted the overall Most Aggressive Rider at the 2008 Tour of Missouri for his style of racing.

Jeff Louder drives the break under dismal conditions.

The best chances at a result, unless riding for a GC spot or a sprint finish is the breakaway.

“You can follow all day and still get fortieth place or get dropped and at least if you’re in the front people come and talk to you and the point of a bike team is to get recognition and be exposed and there’s more that one way to do that at a bike race. I think that being in a breakaway is a great way to get publicity and it raises the odds for a good result. A lot of the best results I’ve ever had have come from putting myself out there and taking risks. Nothing ventured and nothing gained.”

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A soigneur is a massage therapist, and team assistant that is responsible for feeding, clothing, and escorting the riders. That translates to long days taking care of the team mostly for the love of the sport.

Australian Jonathan Coulter, known as Jono is the lead soigneur for the Bissell Team. A racer in how own right, Jono is joined by Lani Galyer, a freelance massage therapist to take care of the riders at the Tour of California.

Take me through the routine in the morning.

Jono: On a tour like this when the stages start between 10am to noon, I get up just before 7am and make sure between Lani and myself that the breakfast is all set up for the riders and then a lot of a preparation for the next day is done at night time so in the morning it’s just making sure that everything is sorted. We have other staff that do the transfer so they collect the luggage of the riders. For us in the morning, it’s pretty straightforward of loading the things that we need for that day into the car. Starting at 7 in the morning.

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Steve Sperling, head mechanic for Team Tibco, shows us Brooke Miller’s Stars and Stripes Look 595. Brooke rode the Stars and Stripes in competition for the first time at the 2nd annual Women’s Tour of California Crit. The Stars and Stripes is outfitted with the same equipment the rest of the team will be riding with the exception of the special paint job to commemorate Brooke Miller’s current status as the U.S Women’s Road Race Champion and U.S. Criterium Champion. Rumor is, that if there’s enough interest, LOOK Cycles USA might do a small run of replicas.

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Scott Struve of Cannondale has a special Super Six Hi-Mod in their booth located in the lifestyle festival. A very lightweight bike, it weighs in at just 10.1 pounds!

Christian Vande Velde, Stage 7’s Break Away from Cancer Jersey winner stops in to field a few questions. Vende Velde is 5′01″ from the General Classification.

Photo by Ken Conley

Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA), Stage 7 Winner
AG2R-La Mondiale
On the race overall:
“I have definitely been very impressed by the Amgen Tour of California. The mountains have been hard for me. I crashed on the second day and the rain has been hard, but I made good preparations, and for me, this victory was very, very important.”

On his team’s strategy today:
“We had two riders (of the 10) in the front group, so we are really happy how we played our tactics to our advantage. In the final sprint, I didn’t know the other two riders, but the way they played it was to my advantage. They set me up well for the finish that happened.”

“There was an initial attack by a Rabobank rider, but we worked together to keep the breakaway together in the last three kilometers. I was pretty confident I could win, but I didn’t know for sure. I’m very content with how it came out.”

“It was really just by chance we got two riders in there (in the top-10), but I’m happy it came out like that because it made the difference in the end.”

On his team overall:
“We are down to five riders. One guy had a knee problem coming into the race, but with five guys, we are still a good team and we are still ready to race.”

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Photo by Ken Conley

Officials Estimate Race Attendance For First Eight Days to be 1.7 Million

PASADENA, CA – Fans in Pasadena came out in droves to witness the finish to Stage 7 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, which included five, five-mile laps on a very demanding circuit through the area surrounding the Rose Bowl. After a challenging day of cycling, Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA) of AG2R-La Mondiale crossed the finish line to take the stage, followed closely by Hayden Roulston (NZL) of Cervelo Test Team and Pieter Weening (NED) of Rabobank. Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Astana retained the overall lead heading into the final stage of the race, which will take riders into San Diego County for the first time, as they race from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido tomorrow.

“The Rose Bowl had a ton of people on the floor today,” said Leipheimer. “When we rode in, there was so much noise from the crowd. All of the guys were really motivated by that.”

Hollywood celebrities, including actor Luke Wilson, who is an ambassador for Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative and Stand Up To Cancer, came out to support the Los Angeles leg of the race.

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