In the queen stage of this
year’s competition, riders will gain more than 10,000 feet in elevation on the
ride from Livermore to the race’s first summit finish on Mt. Diablo. From its peak, Mount Diablo offers views for hundreds of
miles including Lassen Peak, high points in Yosemite National Park, and the
Farallon Islands off the California coast.
Diablo (pictured) makes an outstanding destination for cycling. The Mount Diablo Interpretive
Association offers a list of suggested mountain rides in the park. For road
riders, there is that unforgettable climb up Summit Road—just go as high as you
want, then turn around and zoom back down.
In Stage Six in San Jose, BMC Racing Team’s Tejay van Garderen (Boulder,
CO) conquered the most challenging individual time trial course in the history
of the Amgen Tour of California to retain his Amgen Race Leader Jersey for a second day. His
determined ride bested five national time trial champions of their respective
countries to take the stage with a time of 48:52, which increased his overall
race lead to 1:47 over 2010 ATOC champion Michael Rogers (AUS) of Team
Saxo-Tinkoff, with just two stages left to ride.
The 19.6-mile time trial course in Silicon Valley was
fittingly punctuated by peaks and valleys, including a steep 1.8-mile climb at
the end of the race, which gained 1,001-feet of elevation. The difficult climb
featured several pitches at more than a 10 percent grade, and added an extra
layer of difficulty especially for the sprinters, who are used to the time
trial serving as a sprinting battleground. The steep finish faced riders with
an equipment conundrum, having to decide whether to continue the climb on a
lighter time trial bike, or take the time to switch to a road bike that could
make up precious seconds uphill. Van Garderen, who held onto a definitive lead throughout the
entire course, chose to ride to the finish on his time trial bike, which aided
in his becoming the only rider to post a time under 49 minutes.
“I knew I could produce power on
my time trial bike so I just put that out of the equation. I didn’t reconsider
my decision. It was a very interesting route the Amgen Tour of California chose.
Very dynamic – had a little bit of everything,” said van Garderen, who
finished fifth overall in last year’s Tour de France. “There were never moments in the race to recover. You started on a big climb, then up
another climb, and the only time to recover was a technical descent, but you’re
holding your breath trying not to crash. The long straight headwind section was
harder than the climb itself.”
Noticeably absent from the board
was five-time U.S. national time trial champion David Zabriskie of
Team Garmin-Sharp, who sustained a broken clavicle during reconnaissance this
morning and did not start in today’s stage. Zabriskie is also four-times runner
up in the Amgen Tour
of California.
Stage Five brought no changes to
the leader jerseys: Cannondale Pro Cycling’s Peter Sagan (SVK) will continue in
the Visit California Sprint Jersey; BISSELL Pro Cycling’s Carter Jones (Boulder,
Colo.) continues to hold onto the Nissan King of the Mountain Jersey, which he’s worn since the
first day of racing; and Bontrager Cycling Team’s 21-year-old Lawson Craddock (Austin, Texas) will once again don the Crunchies Best Young Rider Jersey, which
he claimed in Stage Two.
Take a moment to visit our website for more road cycling
information, www.stickybottleteam.net.
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