The Amgen Tour breezes through town

Since I haven’t quite saved up enough money to go over to Europe and attend the Tour de France, Tuesday’s Amgen Tour of California was my first chance to cover a top-caliber cycling race. I tried to learn whatever I could as I made my way around. There were two interesting aspects of cycling that I saw and heard.

The first one applies specifically to what I saw in Davis as the riders sped through town. From my vantage point on the corner of Second and B streets, I first saw three riders ahead of the field about three or four minutes ahead of the other 130 or so which were in a pack behind them. Talking to one of the Amgen representatives, I learned that those three guys (Christophe Laurent, David McCann and Omer Kem) were participating in a “race within the race.”

The sprint down Second Street, which lasted about two blocks between B and D, gave the winner points and cash bonuses. There are usually a couple of sprint areas each day and then the finish line so at the end of the stages and at the end of the race there are multiple winners. Tuesday, there were winner jerseys for the overall leader, the stage winner as well as the top sprint ride. All the jersey winners got to shake hands on a stage near the steps of the capitol with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The interesting part of the sprint in Davis was that those three riders and participated were allowed to dash out ahead by the other riders because they are not favorites to win the race. The other riders knew that they would tire after a time and would fall back to the pack eventually. It was worth it for Laurent, however, as he won the sprint and received the money and the points. According to the play-by-play on the Amgen Web site, Laurent and McCann, who battled for another sprint title earlier in the day, did not seem happy with each other and were having words on the course.

The second thing I learned — this time during the press conference with Juan José Haedoat — was how much cycling actually is a team sport. Haedoat, in his first year as a member of the elite CSC team from Europe, was able to win the stage by having teammate Stuart O’Grady go out ahead of the pack with about 350 meters to go. That gave way for Haedoat to cross the finish line using the path that O’Grady had created.

For the full story, see Wednesday's Enterprise.

--Chris Saur (with photo by Greg Rihl)