Photo by Tim De Waele

If one speaks to any young American-based cycling team which is about to race in a field heavily weighted with European Pro Tour teams, it would be likely that the team’s goal would be to finish well placed among the elite, international group. Indeed at the beginning of the Tour of California, Alex Moos represented the BMC racing team’s best chance at matching the Pro Tour teams over the week of racing.

Today’s Stage 3 from Modesto to San José posed the first substantial road block in every team’s path for classification success in the 2008 Tour of California. Overcoming the hilly challenges, Moos finished the stage in ninth place, only 20 seconds behind the stage winner. Team Manager, Gavin Chilcott was pleased with Moos’ performance today, and upbeat about his chances in the upcoming Time Trial, “It’s hard to predict just what we can expect from Alex and the time trial. We haven’t seen the revised course, but since a hill has been added to last year’s course, that should play to our advantage,” Chilcott said.

Alex, were you happy with your performance today?

Alexander Moos: Oh, well it was a very difficult day with several extremely challenging climbs. But the team had a strategy and for the most part, all went according to plan. With the climbs I just went all out, and held on for the finishing chase. I am very content with the stage result.

Do you feel you have a good chance to keep your position with the coming time trial?

AM: Well, we will have to see. It is not a specialty of mine and I have not had a chance to preview the new bits to the course. But I will do my best and hope that will be enough to keep me in contention.

Do you have your sights set on trying to win a particular stage this week?

AM: It is very difficult to predict. There are so many riders who also want to win here, and we are already half way through the event. One has always to believe that it will be possible, but we will see. On verra.

Ben Jacques-Maynes Keeps Company with Worlds Best Following Grueling Mountain Romp

BISSELL Pro Cycling’s Ben Jaques-Maynes showed again that his 2007 ‘coming out party’ was no fluke, keeping company again today in the front two groups with some of the world’s most accomplished cyclists. Jacques-Maynes finished 20th for the day and is ranked 16th on GC after Stage three. While BPC slipped a few places in the overall team GC after a tough day of climbing, they again held strong as the highest ranked US Continental team.

On a day that saw race leader Tyler Farrar abandon due to a stomach virus and saw five others DNF, the eight-man BISSELL Pro Cycling team made all three time cuts making it to the finish line in tact. Commented Director Sportiff Glen Mitchell, “We really didn’t want the guys to be completely blown apart after today’s stage as there are still four tough days ahead and we do intend to make our mark.” He added, “We didn’t want to strike all our matches too early and for that reason today was a complete success.”

Team Manager Mark Olson added, “These guys are definitely a solid group. They’re working really well together and they’re all feeling strong even after today’s showdown. We’re looking forward to the next few days.”

RANDOM TEAM NOTES: Team BISSELL’S Head Mechanic, Ben Oliver, is still recovering from an unforgiving virus but is miraculously managing to hang tough with the team. Making things easier on Ben was the simple fact that the team suffered zero mechanicals today.

The word on the street is that Tyler Farrar had the misfortune of spending some time in the Bissell Clean Sweep Wagon today. We have not been able to get a confirmation on that report, however,

Photo by Ken Conley

Stage 3 Results:
First Place - Robert Gesink (NED), Rabobank
Second Place - Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Third Place - Jurgen Vandewalle (BEL), QuickStep

Overall Results (General Classification):
First Place - Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Second Place - Fabian Cancellara (ARG), Team CSC
Third Place - Robert Gesink (NED), Rabobank

Stay tuned, full stage recap and photo galleries to come.

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Tyler Farrar (USA), General Classification Leader
Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30
On today’s race:
“Today played out exactly how we hoped it would. We didn’t know what the breakaway situation would be, but we were lucky with the bonuses being late in the stage. The team was amazing today. They delivered me perfectly to every bonus sprint, which made my job really easy.”

On today’s win:
“This win probably tops any win I’ve ever had; it’s a pretty big deal for me. I’m ecstatic to be racing in America, and to be wearing the Amgen Leader Jersey is a big deal for me and for the team; everyone is really happy.”

On tomorrow’s race:
“Tomorrow will be a hard day with the mountain climbs, but we have a few riders who are well positioned. My hope is that I’ll be handing the Amgen Leader Jersey to one of my teammates tomorrow.”

On racing in the rain today:
“I actually don’t mind the rain. I generally excel in these types of conditions. You can’t dwell too much on what can happen; if you do that, you can’t do your job.”

On the level of competition in the race:
“If you look at the field of riders competing in the Amgen Tour of California, it just goes to show that this race is on par with the best races in the world. You can’t get any better than the riders we have here. It’s actually a bit surreal for me to be racing against some of the greatest athletes in cycling. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. To have guys of such high caliber backing me up is a huge encouragement. In particular, getting to race with Mario (Cipollini) is pretty cool. He was my hero when I was a kid, so it’s a little crazy.”

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Photo by Ken Conley

Officials Estimate 425,000 Fans Along the Course Over the First Three Days of the Race

SACRAMENTO, CA – The second stage of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California saw the emergence of a young star in Tyler Farrar (USA) of Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30 and the return of old warrior in Mario Cipollini (ITA) of Rock Racing. But the wet and slippery streets of the State Capitol belonged to 2005 World Champion and Belgian superstar Tom Boonen (BEL) QuickStep, who claimed today’s stage victory. Stage 2, which took cyclists from Santa Rosa to Sacramento, finished in front of record crowds, taking the total attendance number for the first three days of the race to 425,000, with five days left to go. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was on hand at the official post-race ceremonies to help award the jerseys.

“The Amgen Tour of California is a wonderful experience for California and is great for our tourism,” declared Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after Stage 2, where he helped present leader jerseys. “The Amgen Tour of California showcases the state, which has some of the most beautiful places in the world. Thank you to the enthusiastic crowd for being here and being such great fans.”

Having spent most of the nearly 116-mile race chasing one rider, Scott Nydam (USA) of Team BMC, the field roared into Sacramento resigned to settle the matter in a bunch sprint. As the peloton poured around the final corner, Gerald Ciolek (GER) of High Road, wearing the Union Bank of California Best Young Rider Jersey, fired off the front and opened a massive gap. Reigning World Champion Paolo Bettini (ITA) of QuickStep charged after Ciolek with Boonen in tow. When Boonen finally broke loose, he focused on the legendary Cipollini, who came out of a three-year retirement to race for the American Rock Racing team.

“Racing in America seems less stressful; people approach the race differently,” said Boonen. “I think we’ll be coming back to the Amgen Tour of California for the next couple of years.”

Despite Boonen’s impressive win, it was U.S. riders Farrar and Nydam that took the limelight on today’s stage. Local rider Nydam, who lives in Santa Rosa, Calif., provided a bright spot on a rainy day for the enthusiastic fans who braved the weather to come out and cheer.

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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

Sacramento, CA., – Bissell Pro Cycling held tough through sporadic showers during Stage Two’s 187.2 kms Santa Rosa to Sacramento jaunt to finish with the bunch and maintain their solid fifth place overall team standing. Positioning themselves safely in the front with cycling’s sprint giants, Richie England and Garrett Peltonen finished out the day in 14th and 15th respectively.

BPC remains the top ranked US Continental team in the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, well ahead of many European Pro Tour teams.

The eight-man BPC team received the same finishing time as today’s stage winner, Tom Boonen, putting them just three seconds ahead of his squad, Team Quick-Step, in overall standings. Jacques-Maynes holds onto tenth in GC.

According to Director Sportiff, Glen Mitchell, “All the guys are feeling good. There seems to be a number of different cold and flu strains going around in the Peloton and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it stays at bay. Once one gets something, it tends to spread like wildfire.”

Added Team Manager, Mark Olson, “Spirits are high. Thus far, we’ve having an exceptional Tour.” He continued, “We did what we could today against the big boys and fact of the matter is, we were up there in good position, banging elbows with the world’s best sprinters. Glen and I really couldn’t ask for anything more.”

RANDOM TEAM NOTES: Team BISSELL’S Head Mechanic, Ben Oliver, was one of the unfortunate of the traveling cycling circus to have caught a nasty flu bug. During yesterday’s Stage from Sausalito to Santa Rosa, he spent the better part of the day with his head tucked into a make-shift ‘motion sickness’ bag. Santa Rosa Press Democrat’s Bob Padecky was along for the ride and journaled the days events, including Oliver’s ill-fate, in today’s paper for all reader’s to see. According to Team Mark Olson, Oliver, while not feeling 100%, is quickly improving.

Gary of Daly City, CA is our first official winner of a brand new official Voler Amgen Tour of California jersey! He and his family made it up to the start in Sausalito, CA for some family time with the tour. Thanks for sending in the photos Gary!

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