Toyota-United Takes on the World’s Best Sprinters in Stage 2 of the Tour of California
Dominique Rollin places 7th in Stage 2 of the Tour of California.
Sacramento, CA - The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team opened the windows to stage two with a soggy bottomed race day that began in Santa Rosa. The team was raring to go after a daring finish by Dominique Rollin in Stage 1. Pettyjohn said, “After our strong finish yesterday, I think we again are in a great position to finish strongly in the Santa Rosa to Sacramento stage. This stage suits our game plan for a strong finish today.” The finish was fast and furious and once again Rollin, made a good showing coming in 7th place.
The world’s best sprinters all had a shot to control this race as the stage was wet from start to finish and the speeds were fairly slow until the final with the racers finishing in just over 5 hours. The final 2 mile lap of the race in the capital of California proved to be exciting indeed. The crowds again were double the size of last year, with the riders feeding off the energy of the fans as they finished their long day sprinting at over 40MPH.
Tomorrow’s stage will prove difficult with Mt. Hamilton looming large with the 4000 foot climb for the boys in red, white, and blue. Ben Day is looking to improve his overall position in the general classification for the team with a strong showing tomorrow as the riders make their way to San Jose from Modesto. Henk Vogels on tomorrows race said, “Because the riders like to start the season in a place like California where the racing isn’t that hard; this year for some reason they put Mt. Hamilton in and I don’t understand the reason for that, I don’t understand why they did that, no rider really wants to go up climbs that long in early February but that’s the way it goes.” It will prove another long ride in the 8 day, and yes we will only be halfway through the California experience after tomorrow’s ride. Let’s hope for some drier conditions.
Photos by © Kathleen Poulos
