Overheard on the Amgen Tour of California
One of the beauties of world class bike tours, is the world class character of the men who ride. Fierce competitors, but honorable sportsmen who respect their foes. With all of the talk of drugs and doping, its great to listen to these road warriors talk about their sport and the peleton in their own voices.
Here’s are a few choice comments from stages 1 and 2.
Levi Leipheimer (Santa Rosa, California) General Classification Leader
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Stage 1 Post-Race Comments
On recovering from the crash“One of the riders lost his hand and went over the bars and brought half the peloton down, and I was in there. But that’s bike racing… I was trying to motivate them (other riders) to get off the ground. I tried to get on my bike right away, but I could see that wasn’t possible. I finally got my bike going, but it felt like forever. George (Hincapie) and Ivan (Basso) really started to ride hard to bring me back. I’m honored to have (Ivan) Basso and (George) Hincapie sacrificing everything they have for me today. (Although I knew) it would be impossible to come back to the leaders when they’re riding that hard.â€
On the dash into Santa Rosa“What an honor to have Ivan Basso put the throttle down today… I know those roads out near Occidental, and he was ripping it up! I’m very honored and very proud to have him lead me into my hometown….â€
J.J. Haedo (ARG) Winner, Stage 2 (was ‘discovered’ when he won two stages of this race last year)
Team CSC
On the finale“I was on Stewie’s wheel (Stuart O’Grady, his team-mate), he was in about fifth place coming around the last corner. When I saw the 300m sign I told him go, so he went (led me) from probably 350(m) to 200 to go. When I went, I probably opened a gap and was lucky to keep it. Good thing he’s on my side so I don’t have to race against him. On the lap before the final one, we were back in about 60th place, but he was really calm and that made me calm too so we didn’t have to do anything crazy to get in the front. ”
Christophe Laurent (FRA) Most Aggressive Rider Winner
Credit Agricole
On his 80-mile breakaway“I had very, very good form today, but the riders with me were not so strong. I went hard going up the first King of the Mountains climb, and I got away from the other two riders and then I waited for them on the other side. When we regrouped I realized that we probably were not strong enough as a group to stay away. But it was a great day, and I really enjoyed myself. This was a really beautiful stage today, and there were so many cheering fans out watching the race in every small town and village. When I was on the Trinity Grade climb, it felt like I was in the Tour de France!â€
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