Other teams fall away on mountain stage
Punching the air in unison, Team RadioShack riders Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner reached the summit finish of Mount Baldy first and second, winning the hardest stage of this year’s Amgen Tour of California.
The duo were clearly best of the contenders on the summit finish, riding away from their rivals and gaining time. Horner made it almost certain that he would win the race tomorrow, while Leipheimer solidified his second overall.
The race leader didn’t dispute the sprint, pushing his team-mate forward, shaking his hand and coasting across the line just behind him.
Afterwards, Horner enthused about the work Team RadioShack did. “They did an unbelievable job, there is no doubt about it,” he said in a television interview. “Trek Leopard helped out all day [riding to set up Andy Schleck – ed.]. We had Ben King, Markel [Irizar Aranburu], Jay Mac [Jason McCartney]…they were unbelievable..they did the bulk of the work. We had an unbelievable ride by Dimmy, who did the last ten miles all on his own before we started the sharp climb to the finish. Then the young neo-pro Bouche showed his stuff and strutted it all the way, he blew the field apart.
“He brought it down to just Levi and myself, then Levi kicked in and I was just holding on to the train.”
The RadioShack riders crossed the line 43 seconds ahead of Rabobank’s Laurens Ten Dam and one minute 1 second up on fourth-placed Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo), who came through with a late surge towards the top of the climb.
Alexander Efimkin made a brave bid for victory on the final ascent, pushing clear of the day’s big move and leaving behind breakaway companions such as Ryder Hesjedal and Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Cervélo). However, strong chasing behind by RadioShack in general – and , in particular, young US champion Ben King plus Matthew Busche – meant that his lead was eroded.
It also put the hammer down and put riders such as Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) Christian Vandevelde (Garmin Cervélo) and Teja y Van Garderen (HTC Highroad) under pressure. Each lost time on the stage.
The rejigged general classification sees Horner and Leipheimer remain first and second overall, while Danielson moves above team-mate Vande Velde into third. Rory Sutherland (United Healthcare) dropped from third overall to seventh, having got it tough on today’s stage. Van Garderen moves up one place to fifth, and said that his tactic was to make sure he didn’t go into the red.
“I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made on Sierra by trying to stay with the big guys,” he said. “I figured if I stayed more within my own rhythm, I could hold on for a high placing rather than trying to stay with the best for a long time and then losing 5 minutes in the last couple of kilometres.”
Early move tries to stay clear
As expected a big move went clear early on, with nine riders breaking away after ten kilometres of racing. Talented young Garmin-Cervélo rider Andrew Talansky (Team Garmin-Cervelo) was present, along with Mondins Patrick McCarty (Team Spidertech Powered By C10), Sky Procycling’s Chris Froome and Ben Swift, Francesco Bellotti (Liquigas-Cannondale), Grischa Niermann (Rabobank Cycling Team), Alexander Efimkin (Team Type 1-sanofi aventis), Rob Britton (Bissell Cycling) and George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team).
Swift was soon dropped from the escape, but Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Cervelo) jumped across.
The break continued to work well together, never allowed much of a lead by the RadioShack led chase, with Bellotti taking the sprint points and McCarty only pulling the plug after collecting valuable KOM points to seal the deal on his lead in the competition.
Final climb
The ascent of Mount Baldy immediately began to take its toll on the break. Talansky was the first to put in an effort, working to increase the advantage of his teammate Hesjedal, but that was all the young American had left in the tank.
Talansky was caught with 6.6 kilometres to go while, behind, his team-mate Dan Martin was slipping out of the back of the fast-diminishing chase group. Ahead, Team RadioShack were driving the pace, with race leader Chris Horner sitting close to the front and looking ready for attacks.
Ahead, Efimkin and Belotti were pushing onwards, and with 5.8 kilometres left, the Team Type 1 rider went clear. However he had just 35 seconds on the Chris Horner group at that point, making his prospects less than certain.
Busche continued to drive the Leipheimer group onwards, causing more to go out the back including Garmin-Cervélo’s Christian Vande Velde. With 4.1 kilometres to go, Tejay Van Garderen (HTC Highroad) and Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek) also both lost contact, although Schleck would briefly rejoin soon afterwards.
By that point, the group had really been whittled down. Schleck was one of five up front, as was Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) plus the three RadioShack riders.
With 3.1 kilometres to the line, Schleck cracked. At the same time, Tom Danielson (Garmin Cervélo), Van Garderen and Steve Morabito (Garmin Cervélo) got back on, yet it was a brief respite. With 2.8 kilometres to go. Leipheimer moved to the front and pushed the pace; he was easily followed by Horner, and the RadioShack duo moved clear alone.