Bissell’s Tom Zirbel improved his time trial result by a whopping 58 seconds over last year’s showing in the Solvang Time Trial at the Tour of California.  Zirbelicious finished in seventh spot at 39 seconds off the fastest time of Levi Leipheimer (Astana) and was the highest placed domestic rider.

Great showing by the Bissell team yesterday as they placed 3 riders of only 5 domestic riders  in the top 20 of the Tour of California Time Trial which was dominated by ProTour riders.  His team mates Ben Jacques-Maynes finished in eleventh and New Zealand Champ Jeremy Vennell was seventeenth.

Zirbel honed his time trial position during the past year where he changed the cleat position, crank length and the aero bars setup.

“It seems to have increased my timetrialing which is what timetrialing is all about. We’ll see, maybe it made a difference, maybe it didn’t but this game is so mental anyway so it doesn’t matter either way as long as I believe it.” said a laughing Zirbel prior to the race.

Zirbel raced in the Tour de San Luis in Argentina in January where he finished second on the time trial before being felled by food poisoning. It was perfect preparation for the big race in California.

“It was just about right for us to get back into it, it was a perfect segway to Tour of California to be honest, to get that first race out of the way, get the confidence back, okay I can still timetrial. We need to be constantly reminded.”

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Photo by Ken Conley

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-High Road) is quite certain of his destiny…and that is to win races. “I can simply say that a win for me is a win; I’m greedy in that way,” stated Cavendish after winning a tight sprint finish against Tom Boonen (Quick Step) in Clovis. “I want to be the best and I always want to cross that finish first. I want to be the first no matter who is here or what race I’m in. I want to be first and it doesn’t matter who is there.”

Cavendish believes he was born with confidence. “Ever since I was young I knew what I wanted to do and what I wanted to achieve. It’s the same in every aspect of my life. I know I am dedicated to my sport and know what I need to put in…in both my personal life and in my professional life. When you have a strong commitment from your team, your support staff, your equipment sponsors…..and you know you put in the work….there can only be one outcome and that is success.”

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Levi Leipheimer (USA), General Classification Leader
Astana
On today’s race:
“It has been a real, hard and fast day; surprisingly fast. At some point, the contenders looked like they might lose ground, but they caught back up.”

On tomorrow’s race:
“It’s going to be a big showdown tomorrow. You have the three-time World Champion Michal Rogers and Dave Zabriskie, the National Champion, so it will be special. I’m actually really looking forward to it. I feel good; I’ve felt great throughout the whole race. I feel pretty awesome about keeping the lead.”

Mark Cavendish (GBR), First Place, Stage 5
Team Columbia-Highroad
On today’s race:
“This was the day that I was planning on winning this year. It was a hard day; harder than expected. It seems like they’ve replicated the Tour de France with the speed and the par course. It has been incredibly hard. There was a strong breakaway and we had to do everything to bring them back and we finally pulled it back. It was a case of doing what my team does the best in world. George took me out to the last kilometer and then Mark Renshaw dropped me off at 200 meters to go. There were a lot of trains going out to the finish; all of the top sprinting teams were going for it. It was a battle of the teams and fortunately we came out on top.”

“This stage win is massively important. Any stage in the Amgen Tour of California is big. It’s big for the team and it’s big for the sponsors, but it’s a bit more personal when it’s close to home. Every other stage is important, but this one is a bit more personal.”

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Photo by Ken Conley

Leipheimer Retains Overall Lead Heading Into Critical Individual Time Trial on Friday

PASO ROBLES, CA – Enthusiastic crowds turned out at the start of the race today in Visalia as race leaders Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Astana, Michael Rogers (AUS) of Team Columbia-Highroad, David Zibriskie (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream and Lance Armstrong (USA) of Astana led the peloton into Stage 5 of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. Equally impressive crowds lined the streets in Paso Robles to witness the incredible sprint to the finish line that saw Mark Cavendish (GBR) of Team Columbia-Highroad take his second consecutive stage win in the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. Leipheimer maintained the overall lead after coming in 15th place in the longest stage of the race. Day six of the 2009 race included no King of the Mountain competitions, but two sprint competitions on a flat, fast day of racing that took the riders from Visalia to Paso Robles.

Moving into second and third overall were Rogers and Zabriskie, respectively.

“This was the day that I was planning on winning this year,” said Cavendish. “It was a hard day; harder than expected. It seems like they’ve replicated the Tour de France with the speed and the par course. It has been incredibly hard.”

Team Columbia-Highroad again delivered Cavendish to the finish line at the front, where he sprang off the lead-out wheels to win with ease. And once again it was Quick Step’s Tom Boonen (BEL) who finished second in the stage, just ahead of Pedro Horrillo (ESP) of Rabobank.

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Photo by Ken Conley

Photo by Ken Conley

Next –>

Mark Cavendish out-sprints Tom Boonen for a second day in a row to win Stage 5 of the Tour of California.

Stage 5 top-five finishers:
1 - Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team Columbia-High Road
2 - Tom Boonen (BEL), Quick Step
3 - Pedro Horrillo (ESP), Rabobank
4 - Francesco Chicchi (ITA), Liquigas
5 - Thor Hushovd (NOR), Cevelo Test Team

General Classification top-five standings as of Stage 5:
1 - Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
2 - Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Comumbia-High Road
3 - David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Slipstream
4 - Lance Armstrong (USA), Astana
5 - Christopher Horner (USA), Astana

Stage 5 jersey winners include:
Amgen Race Leader Jersey- Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey- Mathew Crane (USA), Jelly Belly
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- Francisco Mancebo (ESP), Rock Racing

LOS ANGELES, CA – AEG announced today that for the first time the 2009 Amgen Tour of California professional cycling race will be broadcast internationally. The race will be broadcast live in more than 90 countries, which includes more than 200 million households across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and Africa. The unprecedented coverage is due to the partnership established with the Amaury Sport Organisation (owners of the Tour de France) which has assisted AEG with the international television distribution of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, further strengthening the partnership between the two cycling tour owners, which was announced in June 2008.

Amongst the line-up of broadcasters, Eurosport, the leader in cycling broadcast coverage in Europe, will broadcast the race live in 77 countries throughout Europe and Asia-Pacific. Abu Dhabi Sports in the Middle East, HiSports in Nigeria, J-Sports in Japan, SBS in Australia and Sky TV in New Zealand are also amongst the race’s international broadcast partners. In addition to the live coverage, highlights will be made available to fans in a total of 201 countries and territories, in 22 languages by a total of 23 channels.

Additionally, the race will be broadcast to international military bases.
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