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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Floyd Landis of Team Ouch Presented by Maxxis, stopped by the post race press conference to answer a few questions. Everything from how his Tour of California is going to what riders should expect tomorrow on Mount Palomar.

Photo by Ken Conley

Photo by Ken Conley

Next –>

Stage 7 top-five finishers:
1 - Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA), AG2R La Mondiale
2 - Hayden Roulston (NZL), Cervelo Test Team
3 - Pieter Weening (NED), Rabobank
4 - Markus Zberg (SUI), BMC Racing Team
5 - Martin Elmiger (SUI), AG2R La Mondiale

General Classification top-five standings as of Stage 7:
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

Stage 7 jersey winners include:
Amgen Race Leader Jersey- Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey- Christian VendeVelde (USA), Garmin-Slipstream
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

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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