Amgen Tour of California *Spoilers*

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  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    That's one hell of a false flat for the first 90 miles taking them up nearly 2500m!
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    There is a whopping breakaway on today's stage ... Adam Blythe (Tinkoff); Maxime Bouet (Etixx - Quick-Step); Nikolas Maes (Etixx - Quick-Step); Xabier Zandio (Team Sky); Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data); Jacopo Guarnieri (Katyusha); Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing); Mark Christian (TEAM WIGGINS); Owain Doull (TEAM WIGGINS); Toms Skujins (Cannonade); Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo); Angelo Tulik (Direct Energie); Caleb Fairly (Giant-Alpecin); Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNl-Jumbo); Christopher Jones (UnitedHealthcare); Logan Owen (Axeon Hagens Berman); Jacob Rathe (Jelly Belly p/b Maxis); Adam De Vos (Rally Cycling) and the peloton is just 3:05 behind; 96km to go.

    Meanwhile the women's race is a bit easier to cope with. Brit Dame Sarah Storey out on her own with a gap of (I think) of over 4mins with 29km to go :D

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  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Storey has a lead of 3'15" with 20km to go.

    Back in the men's race that lead group has a gap of just under 3mins.

    The added complication today is the weather - fairly blustery conditions abound and there will be a headwind close to the finish.

    Edit - with 10km to go the gap is down to just 1'15", mostly due to that pesky Boels-Dolmans team.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    6km to go and the catch has been made. I wonder who will get the combative jersey? :wink:

    2'40" for the break 78km to go in the men's race, just before we start to get some live coverage. I hope we get some highlights of this women's race as well.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
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    1. Megan Guarnier - the American champ wins the first stage after being well supported by teammates during that uphill sprint.
    2. Emma Johansson
    3. Kirsten Armstrong
    4. Evelyn Stevens
    5. Marianne Vos
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Leaders have 4'30" over the peloton with just under 40km to go. Great views of the mountains & woods as the route goes around Lake Tahoe into Nevada. Here's a pic from earlier today.

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  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Live feed down with just over 10km to go. New lead group consists of De Vos, Skujins and Zandio. Peloton is 3 minutes behind. The remains of the original breakaway is in between.

    Not sure that the peloton is going to catch everyone ahead of them today.

    Edit - 2.5km to go and it looks like it's going to be decided between the leading trio.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Skujins wins De Vos second and Zandio third. No significant changes in the GC (I think).

    ITT tomorrow around Folsom. Top tip - do not Google image search Folsom (you have been warned) :shock:
  • wallace_and_gromit
    wallace_and_gromit Posts: 3,608
    Sir Brad has his work cut out if he's to complete the double of winning and then finishing last in the ToC. He's still 15 minutes ahead of the last placed rider on GC. Clearly not trying hard enough!
  • kleinstroker
    kleinstroker Posts: 2,133
    RonB wrote:
    ... Top tip - do not Google image search Folsom (you have been warned) :shock:

    I did it, now I'm blind! :lol:
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    Same...
  • dish_dash
    dish_dash Posts: 5,647
    faaaak yes! My little latvian man delivers again at the Tour of California

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  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Ok, TT for the next stage in Folsom. Same route for both the women (team) & the men (individual) today, following the 2014 stage won by Bradley Wiggins who went on to win the overall that year. In that year Rohan Dennis came in at around 24mins. If he can gain around 1min or so on Alaphilippe then we will have a real race on our hands for the remainder of the tour.

    profile-06.jpg

    In terms of the women's race, we could see a close finish with Villumsen up against Stevens, Armstrong and Brennauer. All these riders were in the top 10 in the Richmond (WC) TT last year. Emma Johansson will be looking for a good time to keep GC hopes alive too.

    Here is a link to the highlights of the women's first stage ... https://youtu.be/NfdTgSmxER4
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    Have to say that the coverage is killing the race for me and not just the constant picture break up.
    Clearly there was a lot of action in the peloton over the final few kms. Yet, as far as we knew, they were still over 2 minutes back.
    Not a single shot until we see Alaphillipe eating up the remains of the breakaway in the last 150 yards.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Americans imitating something European and not getting it quite right.

    Who knew?
    _
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,182
    The app is excellent though, when the live coverage is working.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    RonB wrote:
    Ok, TT for the next stage in Folsom. Same route for both the women (team) & the men (individual) today, following the 2014 stage won by Bradley Wiggins who went on to win the overall that year. In that year Rohan Dennis came in at around 24mins. If he can gain around 1min or so on Alaphilippe then we will have a real race on our hands for the remainder of the tour.

    profile-06.jpg

    In terms of the women's race, we could see a close finish with Villumsen up against Stevens, Armstrong and Brennauer. All these riders were in the top 10 in the Richmond (WC) TT last year. Emma Johansson will be looking for a good time to keep GC hopes alive too.

    Here is a link to the highlights of the women's first stage ... https://youtu.be/NfdTgSmxER4

    You do realise the women's race is (was) a team time trial, don't you?
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    edited May 2016
    Olympic TT champ Kirstin Armstrong and her TWENTY16 team won the team trial in Folsom. Bowls-Dolmans were 6" behind, with UHC Procycling coming in third.

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    Megan Garner still in the yellow jersey.

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    In the men's TT Andy Fenn currently holds the lead, but Kiri will be looking to be putting in a fast time if he has been able to recover from that fall earlier in the race. Wiggo was well down, but by all accounts this was due to an issue with the bars on his TT bike, rather than his mojo.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    Wiggins 10th out of the 22 finishers. :oops:
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Owain Doull fastest so far, but Kiri out on course with the best split.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    Wiggins 10th out of the 22 finishers. :oops:
    His aerobars broke.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Current position (about 1/2 way) - 1 Phinney, 2 Kiri, 3 Doull.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Dennis now out on the course and it seems like the wind/ weather is favouring the later starters.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Captain America Talansky has just given Phinney the opportunity to get that shower. He's in the hot seat now with a new fastest time.

    Edit - but Dennis has just come in with a faster time 24'16". With Alaphilippe just 14" down at the 1/2 way point it's looking good for a GC showdown in the last couple of days.

    25'17" is the all important max time for Alapilippe to stay in the gold jersey.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Fantastic ride by Alaphilippe there. Just 45" behind Dennis in the TT. He has the GC lead - but only by 16 seconds!

    BMC have a great team, have the numbers. Will they try something over the next couple of days?
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    They certainly know how to set up a dull TT course in this race.
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,104
    dish_dash wrote:
    160110__BH11341.jpg

    Until you posted that I'd forgotten he was the Chucky lookalike.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Stage3 for the women's race, pretty much all together despite numerous attacks. 67km to go.

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    Men's race begins and ends in Santa Rosa and heads through the wine country of Sonoma County.

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    A reminder of the overall position after the Folsom ITT

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  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    There is vstrong breakaway group with 2mins at around 30km to go in the women's race. That group includes Guarnier, Stevens, Armstrong and Johansson. Not over for the chase though, because Rabo-Liv somehow missed the split and are pushing hard to get back.

    Info hard to come by, which is a bit frustrating :|
  • onyourright
    onyourright Posts: 509
    Where are you getting any info from?

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