21.02.2009 8: Rancho Bernardo - Escondito (156 km)
Stage win for Frank Schleck
Results:
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Frank Schleck
Levi Leipheimer
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25th at 40"
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32nd at 19'12"
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winner
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12th at 3'19"
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After having already attacked yesterday, Frank Schleck has tried again today and, after a fantastic performance in the last 80 kilometers, he has taken the stage victory ahead of young and talented Vincenzo Nibali. But this was also a victory of his team: from the beginning, Saxo Bank was at the front with among others Jason McCartney and Andy Schleck. After merely 10 kilometers, on the first climb, both of them broke away together with Peterson, winner of the first stage, as well as Mollema, Riblon, Pauwels, Moos and Jacques-Maynes. But there were lots of other riders with ambitions in the peloton and their advantage never exceeded one minute. On the second uphill of the day, only four riders remained in the lead, but Schleck, McCartney, Pauwels and Jacques-Maynes were joined shortly after by Barredo, Frank and Clement. The main dish of the menu was still to come, namely the Mount Palomar culminating at more than 1500 meters
above sea level. On this 20 kilometer long climb, the first serious attack came from Oscar Sevilla who took with him Frank Schleck and Floyd Landis, followed by some more riders. The strongest were up there and together Leipheimer, Gesink, Rogers, Voigt ,Zabriskie, Nibali and Danielson, Frank bridged up to his brother’s group at the front. A big collective effort from Saxo Bank as 4 out of the 12 leading riders were from the Schleck brother’s team, whereas leader Leipheimer was on his own. But the man in yellow didn’t panic, he was very strong and followed his main opponents Rogers and Zabriskie with apparent easiness. Frank Schleck launched another move on the descent and he broke away with Nibali, Chadwick and Mollema. Although there were still more than 80 kilometres to cover and around 40 riders had regrouped in the chase behind the four, the Luxemburg’s champ believed in his chances. On the last KOM, Schleck and Nibali dropped the two others and they arrived on top of Cole Grade with a minute advantage on the first peloton. The next 30 kilometers were mostly flat or downhill and the duo put in a tremendous performance since, with 10 kilometers to go at the entry of Escondito, they had still 1’15” gap on the chasers led by Astana, Garmin, High-Road and Rock-Racing. Despite several attacks, none of the leaders managed to leave the other behind and the victory was to be decided in a sprint. Nibali opened with an early attack, but Frank Schleck still had enough strength to come around him and win with several meters of advance. The first peloton was led 40 seconds later by George Hincapie over the line with Andy Schleck in 25th position after a tough, a very tough day. In the final overall classification, the positions remained unchanged despite the dramatic stage: Levi Leipheimer wins his third Tour of California, 36 seconds ahead of Zabriskie and 46 on Rogers, whereas Frank appears in 12th place at 3’19”. The older Schleck also wins the prize for most aggressive rider in the last stage and, due to the big number of kilometres he rode at the front of the race during the last two days, he was noted 3rd in the intermediate sprints classification and 8th in the King of the Mountains competition. Younger brother Andy is found in 32nd position in the final overall classification at more than 19 minutes, after having shown himself during several stages. All in all a very good season begin of Luxemburg’s riders overseas, if the bad crash of Kim Kirchen hadn’t spoiled the party after a few stages.
20.02.2009 7: Santa Clarita - Pasadena (143 km)
Frank Schleck attacked
Results:
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Rinaldo Nocentini
Levi Leipheimer
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78th at 2'19"
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43rd at 19'12"
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8th at 7"
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15th at 4'09"
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The last two stages still appeared to be very difficult, especially today with the climb of Milcreek Summit culminating at 1463 meters above sea-level and a tough closing circuit to be ridden 5 times. A good course for Frank Schleck though and he didn’t hesitate to go on the attack after 50 kilometers of very heavy and fast racing. Together with Hincapie, Vandevelde, Engels, Elminger, Zberg, Weening, Houlston and Baldwin, the National champion broke away on the steepest part of Milcreek and due to his big work at the front, this group arrived on top of the climb with two minutes advantage on the first peloton, an advantage that increased to nearly four minutes on the long descent to
Pasadena. On the finishing loops, the gap melted somewhat due to the chase of Astana, but then it remained steady at around 3 minutes: the stage win was to be decided within the break. There were of course lots of attacks and Frank Schleck tried his luck on the uphill part of the circuit with around 15 kilometers to go. He stayed alone in the lead for a moment but Hincapie and Roulston bridged up, taking the others with them. After an attack from Pieter Weening in the last lap, three riders managed to stay away and it was Rinaldo Nocentini who took the stage win in the sprint ahead of Roulston and Weening. Despite several attacks in the very tactical final, Frank Schleck had no luck and had to settle down with 8th place, within the first chasing group that crossed the finish line 7 seconds behind the leading trio. Andy Schleck has been for most of the day in the group of the GC contenders and finished the stage next to his team-mates O’Grady and McCartney in 78th position at the end of the Leipheimer-Armstrong peloton, a little bit more than 2 minutes late on the winner. There were not big changes overall, except that Frank Schleck moved up to 15th position, still 4 minutes late on the yellow jersey.
19.02.2009 6: Solvang - Solvang (24 km ITT)
Levi unbeatable
Results:
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Levi Leipheimer
Levi Leipheimer
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47th at 2'28"
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49th at 19'12"
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27th at 1'42"
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19th at à 6'22"
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For the third year in a row, Levi Leipheimer has won the time-trial of the Tour of California. The small leader of the Astana team seems to be unbeatable on this terrain and, if Zabriksie finished relatively close today at 8 seconds, the other riders lost more time to him: Larsson at 17", Rogers at 22, Voigt at 30 and Hincapie 36" behind. At the intermediate time, Leipheimer was already fastest and had 3 seconds advantage on Zabriskie. He finished the loop in 30'41", which means
47 km/h average speed and a new record for this traditionnal course around Solvang. In the overall classification and before the last two stages in the Los Angeles region, the yellow jersey now is 36" ahead of Zabriskie and 46" ahead on Michael Rogers. Frank schleck finished hte stage in 27th position, 1'42" late on the winner and in the same time than Danielson, Riblon and Nibali (average speed 44,5 km/h). His time has allowed him to enter the Top 20 overall after today's stage. Andy Schleck was clocked in the same time than Mark Cavendish, 33'09" for the 24 kilometers that are flat in the first part, but hilly and twisty in the second one. This means 47th place for Andy in the stage classification (average speed 43,4 km/h) and he also moves up a few places overall.
18.02.2009 5: Visalia - Paso Robles (216 km)
Cavendish strikes again
Results:
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Mark Cavendish
Levi Leipheimer
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53rd at 0"
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53rd at 16'44"
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21st at 0"
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20th at 4'40"
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The longest stage didn't have any topographic difficulties on its program, but the riders had nevertheless a common ennemi: the wind. With the expected statu-quo of the favourites before tomorrow's deciding time-trial, a long break perhaps had chances for success. This must have been in the mind of Pieter Weening, Jeffry Louder, Cameron Evans, Matthew Crane, Robert Gunn and Glen Chadwick, when they attacked after five Kilometers already and took up to 8 minutes of advantage on the peloton. But, of course, the sprinter teams joined Astana in the chase after mid-race and the gap gradually decreased again. Despite a good collaboration on the straight and extremely monotone roads, the 6 riders in the break had to give up their attempt with 5 kilometres to go, due to the work of among others Andy Schleck, who was present at the front of the pack on several occasions. Saxo Bank, Columbia, Cervélo and Quick-Step were really motivated to use their chance and a last attack from Tim Johnson and Jens Voigt near to the finish didn’t avoid the bunch sprint. The last kilometre turned into a duell between the Cervélo and Columbia lead-out trains and for the second time in two days, Mark Cavendish was the fastest on the line, ahead of Boonen, Horillo, Chicchi and Hushovd. Frank Schleck in 21st position and Andy Schleck as 53rd finished the race in the first 60 man strong first part of a peloton that split into pieces in the very hectic last kilometres. The two brothers surely had their mind already on the time-trial in Solvang, whereas Kim Kirchen should undergo surgery on his shoulder on Friday
17.02.2009 4: Merced - Clovis (188 km)
Broken shoulder for Kim Kirchen
Results:
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Mark Cavendish
Levi Leipheimer
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50th at 0"
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54th at 16'44"
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75th at 0"
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21st at 4'40"
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DNF
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More mountains, and not the easiest ones: in the center of California, the riders had to tackle several climbs rising up to more than 1200 meters above sea-level through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with beautiful countrysides. Unfortunately, the race did not turn out very nice for Kim Kirchen who was brought to hospital after having been involved in a massive crash and found himself with a broken shoulder and collarbone. After a very fast start with lots of attacks, four riders finally managed to break away after an hour of racing: Serge Pauwels , Jason McCartney, Tyler Hamilton and Francisco Mancebo, with the latter being mainly interested in marking points at the KOM competition and dropping back to the peloton shortly after. As the race organizers were still busy clearing the snow on the Crane Valley Road, highest point of the stage, the three remaining men built up a lead of more than 6 minutes. On the downhill just before this last climb, there were several crashes in the pack, one of which also brought down Kim Kirchen. On that last climb, there were no further attacks in the peloton since the rider were tired from three days of racing under the rain and a very, very tough stage begin. The consequence was that Hamilton, McCartney and Pauwels still had more than five minutes on top of Crane Valley, but also that most of the sprinters were still up there in the first pack and that their team-mates started chasing very seriously. Due to the work of Columbia and Quick-Step, the break was caught with 2 kilometers to go. Cervelo immediately took over the control of the bunch to prepare Hushovd's sprint, but the Columbia train rode past them and delivered Cavendish on the finish line for the stage victory, even if his advantage on Tom Boonen was very narrow at the end. Andy and Frank Schleck crossed the finish line in the middle of the peloton in 50th respectively 75th position.
16.02.2009 3: San José - Modesto (168 km)
One for the sprinters at last
Results:
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Thor Hushovd
Levi Leipheimer
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71st at 0"
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55th at 16'44"
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72nd at 0"
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21st at 4'40"
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96th at 0"
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93rd at 29'59"
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After two very tough days, the third stage of the Tour of California between San José and Modesto was at last designed for the sprinters. But even if the last part of the course was extremely flat, the beginning of the stage was difficult and very animated. In order to warm up in ice-cold temperatures, the riders had to tackle from the start the climb of Sierra Road, an important climb in recent editions of the Tour, and four riders decided to accelerate. Whereas Andy Schleck dropped backwards with several team-mates to help sprinter Juan José Haedo to come in the best possible condition over the long and very tough climb, Bauke Mollema, Brian Vandborg, Jeff Louder and Brad White quickly got sixty seconds of advantage, a gap that increased to over 5 minutes on the second climb of the day, Patterson Pass. But after that, Columbia and Quick-Step joined Astana in the chase and the speed of the peloton accelerated. Kim Kirchen amongst others did a lot of work in the win, together with Amstrong, Rast, Popovych or Barry. With 30 kilometres to go, the gap had decreased to 2 minutes only and with 2 kilometres to go, the adventure of the break was over. Team Cervelo then took over in the peloton and they led Thor Hushovd perfectly to the finish line, where the Viking completed the work with a nice victory over Freire and his former team-mate Renshaw. Frank and Andy Schleck crossed the finish line side by side in the bunch, just like Kim Kirchen several positions behind them. Despite having been involved in one of the numerous crashes on dangerous, wet roads, Levi Leipheimer is still in yellow after another, rain-soaked stage.
16.02.2009 2: Sausalita - Santa Cruz (187 km)
Leipheimer takes an option
Results:
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Thomas Peterson
Levi Leipheimer
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78th at 16'20"
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56th at 16'44"
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12th at 21"
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21th at 4'40"
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80th at 17'10"
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99th at 29'59"
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Very nice landscapes for the second stage, but due to another day of really bad weather, the riders were not able to fully appreciate the historical ride over the Golden Gate Bridge and right trough San Francisco to the Highway Number One, who took them towards the South along the Coast. On two occasions, the course left the coast today and, each time, offered an opportunity to test the climbing legs. On top of the first of those two climbs, at approximately mid-race, the early break consisting of Jason Mccartney, Steven Cozza, Thomas Peterson, Carlos Barredo, Stef Clement, Grischa Niermann, Markus Zberg, Cameron Evans, Ben Jacques-Maynes and Valeriy Kobzarenko had extended its lead to over 5 minutes on the peloton led by Rock Racing. On the second uphill, however, a powerfull attack from Levi Leipheimer reduced the chances of the break, since only Peterson stayed at the front and they were two to fight for the stage victory: Leipheimer, who did all the work in the final kilometers to take as much time as possible on his GC rivals and Thomas Peterson, who stayed in the wheel of the Californian after a long day out at the front and outsprinted the new yellow jersey for the stage victory. After this tremendous performance, Levi Leipheimer has of course taken a serious option on defending his overall title since the next chasers, led by Michael Rogers, were more than 20 seconds late and this gap is also present in the new overall classification. The Luxemburgish riders aren't any more present on the first places there, since it was Frank Schleck who was present at the front today, while his brother was yesterday. The National champion was in the first group that chased right behind Leipheimer on the Bonny Doon climb and he arrived at the finish in 12th position, together with riders like Armstrong, Voigt, Basso or Zabriskie. His brother lost more than 15 minutes today when he finished just in front of the big bunch. In this bunch, there was also Kim Kirchen who had worked for his team an sprinter Cavendish during the stage.
15.02.2009 1: Davis - Santa Rosa (173 km)
Mancebo resists until the end
Results:
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Francisco Mancebo
Francisco Mancebo
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9th at 1'07"
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18th at 1'20"
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46th at 5'06"
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45th at 5'15"
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69th at 13'38"
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82th at 13'45"
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First stage of the Tour of California and it was already a deciding one. Under miserabel weather conditions combining cold, heavy rainfalls and wind, the three climbs of the day, as well as the dangerous descents, took their toll on the peloton which split up into three parts, with some of the favourites loosing a considerable amount of time. The first attack of the day came from Fancisco Mancebo who took over 12 minutes of advantage on the main peloton in the first half of the race, together with Aaron Kemps and Tim Johnson. The steep Mount Howell, with about 50 kilometers to go, brought more action into the game, as Mancebo left behind the two other riders of the break and shortly after the descent, Astana split up the peloton. Armstrong and Leipheimer were up there, just like Basso, Rogers, Gesink, Voigt or Andy Schleck. The young CSC rider had managed to get onto the good train, as his brother wasn't far behind in a second group. But despite the hard chasing from Rabobank and from the Ouch riders of Floyd Landis, the gaps increased more and more: Astana was just too strong and Armstrong made an impressive work. At the front of the race, Mancebo has been joined by Van de Walle and Nibali on the finishing circuits, but he still had enough power left to take the stage win in the sprint. Andy Schleck finished the day in 9th position, one minute down, Frank Schleck was noted as 44th at 5 minutes, whereas Kim Kirchen lost more than 13 minutes today, finishing together with his team-mate Mark Cavendish in the big bunch.
14.02.2009 P: Sacramento (3,8 km ITT)
Cancellara repeats prologue win
Results:
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Fabian Cancellara
Fabian Cancellara
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83rd at 20"
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83rd at 20"
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63rd at 16"
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63rd at 16"
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51st at 14"
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51st at 14"
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The season has thus begun for the professionnal riders of the ACC Contern. After having had already several training camps, Kim Kirchen, Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck have lined up for their first race of the year at the prologue of the Tour of California, which was held on a 4 kilometer long, totally flat course in the heart of Sacramento. The three of them shouldn't have any big ambitions on this Tour, except collecting race kilometers and helping the team to shine in this
event, that is becoming more and more important for the sponsers. As expected, they didn't have any top result in the prologue, a prologue that was turned into a match between the sprinters and the time trial specialists. The latter stood on top at the end since former world champion Fabian Cancellara was fastest in the California capitol, completing the course in 4'32" at 50 km/h average speed, just one second faster than defending champion Levi Leipheimer. On the next places followed Zabriskie and Rogers at 2" and then, 3 seconds late, the sprinters with Hushovd, Boonen and Hincapie. Kim Kirchen finished the race in 51st position, 14 seconds down on the winner and in the same time than riders like Voigt and Gesink. The Schleck brothers followed closely behind, with Frank finishing 63rd at 16 seconds and Andy 83rd at 20 seconds (with still a respectable 48,2 km/h average speed).
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Drucker
