Despite continuing poor weather conditions the Tour of California has witnessed some surprises as an explosive ride from Levi Leipheimer on stage 2 put him in yellow and we finally had a bunch sprint to the finish of day 3.

Stage 2 took the riders over 186 kms fom Sausalito to Santa Cruz over the Golden Gate Bridge and through San Francisco.  The stage was marked by a long breakaway with much of the tempo riding being done by Rock racing in the Peloton in defence of Francisco Mancebo’s yellow jersey, including team captain Tyler Hamilton who was often seen pulling strongly on the front.

The breakaway had up to five minutes at times but with no real GC contenders in the group the Peloton were content to let them ride for most of the stage.  The bunch was made up of Jason McCartney (Team Saxo Bank), Steven Cozza, Thomas Peterson (Garmin - Slipstream), Carlos Barredo (Quick Step), Stef Clement, Grischa Niermann (Rabobank), Markus Zberg (BMC Racing Team), Cameron Evans (OUCH p/b Maxxis), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling) and Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1).

As they neared the end of the stage riders started to attempt to break clear and with the final climb of Bonny Doon Road splits started to appear as Barredo went clear followed by Peterson and McCartney.  However back in the Peloton Astana had decided enough was enough.  Leipheimer launched a blistering attack that took him past the breakaway group and up to Peterson and McCartney who had overhauled a fading Barredo.  Only Peterson could stay with Leipheimer who powered over the climb and did all the work to the finish line where he was finally passed by the rested Peterson who had drafted him.  This was Thomas Peterson’s first professional win and was particularly pleasing to the director sportif of his squad, Garmin-Slipstream who has personally mentored the young rider.

The day belonged to Leipheimer though as he took the yellow jersey from a tiring Mancebo who lost 2 minutes to his rival but maintained his grip on the Green sprinters jersey and the King of the Mountains jersey.

Results

1 Thomas Peterson (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 5.06.20
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad 0.21
4 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana
5 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing

General classification after stage 2

1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 9.23.02
2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad 0.24
3 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0.28
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0.30
5 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana 0.34
6 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana 0.38
7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
8 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0.39

Stage 3 took the riders over 167 kms from San Jose to Modesto and again wind and driving rain lashed the riders for most of the stage.  The stage was run in reverse to last year so bizarrely the riders faced into a few climbs almost immediately but ended the day with a long 40km drag into Modesto, perfectly designed for a larch bunch sprint.  For most of the day a group of 4 riders were up the road.  Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), Brian Vandborg (Liquigas), Jeff Louder (BMC Racing) and Brad White (OUCH-Maxxis) led until the sprint teams got together to chase them down.  The sprint was very disorganised with many riders commenting that the finish was to dangerous, a combination of wet roads and cats eyes resulting in some choosing not to contest such as Belgian Tom Boonen.  In the end Thor Hushovd of the Cervelo Test Team was beautifully led out by his team to claim the victory over a really annoyed Oscar Friere with Mark Cavendish loosing the wheel of his lead out man to finish in fifth.

There were no changes to GC which is still dominated by the Astana team with Leipheimer in yellow, Armstong in fourth, Horner in fifth, Brajkovic in sixth and Rubiera in eight. Truly a show of strength.  Leipheimer had a nervous moment when he touched wheels with Armstrong and went down early on but like his team mate, who was hit by a photographers motorbike on stage 2, got up and continued riding, seemingly unhurt.

Results stage 3

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervélo TestTeam                                    4.28.12 (37.3601 km/h)
2 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank
3 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
4 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
5 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia - Highroad

General Classification after Stage 3

1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana                                          13.51.14
2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad                             0.24
3 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream                                 0.28
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana                                              0.30
5 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana                                           0.34
6 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana                                              0.38
7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
8 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank                                             0.39
11 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing
12 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank                                          0.40
13 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas                                                0.42
14 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
15 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quick Step                                      0.51

Stage 4 is a mountain stage with 4 King of the Mountains peaks over 187.7 kms.  Leipheimer has marked it as a dangerous stage as a rider who gets away could inflict major damage to GC.  Opinion is divided though as the final 40 kms or so are all downhill so some commentators are predicting a bunch sprint while others are predicting a solo breakaway or elite climbers bunch.  The weather is set to improve but with the riders set to go above the snow line anything is possible.

We favour a climbers bunch with rider from Astana sure to be sent up the road to keep an eye on things if Leipheimer is not part of the action.  Doubtless the other leading teams such as Columbia-Highroad and Garmin wil we watching things too.  Ivan Basso could make a move or some one like Hamilton (30 mins down on GC) or Landis (6 mins down on GC) could go for a stage win in what has otherwise been a lacklustre Tour.  The riders will be thinking too of the following days time trial too and the GC contenders will not want to exhaust themselves ahead of the big showdown.