Sagan broke three-time
Champion Levi Leipheimer’s Amgen Tour of California stage win record of seven
last year when he took five stage wins. His stage wins at America’s largest
cycling race now total nine, including Tuesday’s dramatic victory.
“The last three kilometers were crazy with
all the sprinters who wanted to win,” said Sagan of the finish.
After several breakaways on the windy
110-mile course, the peloton came back together in the final ten kilometers
culminating in a tightly packed bunch sprint over the line after several leader
changes. There was no change to the
overall standings after Stage Three with Team Jamis-Hagens Berman’s Janier
Alexis Acevedo (COL) continuing on in the Amgen Race Leader Jersey today.
“I felt very tired today after yesterday.
The legs never felt good, I just tried to stay in the group, eat, and drink,
and recover,” said Acevedo.
Today’s Stage Four is the same route the
race has followed in the past, but in reverse. The riders will be looking
forward to the warm ocean breeze that awaits them in Santa Barbara at the
finish, but they will have their work cut out for them getting there. They will
likely face a punishing headwind as they work their way over to the first
Sprint in the familiar town of Santa Paula. A sprint in Ojai will be preceded
by the KOM and technical descent of Dennison Grade. Past Ojai, the climb up
Casitas Pass will give way to long downhill and flat finish along the beach in
Santa Barbara. There is no question that this stage will favor the sprinters.
The Casitas Pass is one of the oldest roads in California. Opened in 1897, it was the only route from
Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Today it
is part of California State Route 150 and it should provide a nice ride out of
the funky and cool Ojai into Santa Barbara County.
The riders will enjoy the trip into and through Santa
Barbara. With mountains to the back and
the immense Pacific to the front the riders will be pedaling along the flat thoroughfares
that make up “America’s Riviera.” What
the riders, fans and television audience will notice most about Santa Barbara
are the palm trees. The city boasts that
it is home to 30,000 trees. At last
count, 25% of those trees were palms. The
one palm that dominates is the Mexican Fan palm. Originally from the Mexican Sonoran desert,
the big trees—over 100 feet tall—are synonymous with the city and resplendently line
Cabrillo Boulevard (pictured).
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