Author: escalera

Amgen Tour of California – Stage 4

Talk about a tough day at the office. With temperatures soaring above 90 degrees all day, the boys powered through 130 miles on a course featuring six KOM summits, with three additional uncategorized climbs thrown in for good measure.

“It was definitely the hardest, longest day of the tour,” said Team Exergy Director Sportif Tad Hamilton of Stage 4’s Sonora to Clovis course. “If the boys weren’t going up, they were going down.”

A break didn’t get away today until the second climb, when a group of 11 riders slipped away. It marked the first time that all UCI Pro Tour teams jumped into the break, and they stayed away until the final KOM. After returning to the main field, some hard attacks on the last big climb split up the peloton. Everyone expected a fast run into Clovis, but the Liquigas crew sat up and waited for Peter Sagan's lead out man, allowing the peloton come back together.

At that point it was down to the sprint. The last corner came with 750 meters to go, and Exergy sprinter Fred Rodriguez moved into great position for the sprint. Unfortunately, between the corner and the finish line he got hung out on the front and had to reshuffle. He couldn’t get going again and ended up in 11thplace.

And despite the mass of big-named sprinters in the bunch, the same two names came out on top for the fourth time this week: Peter Sagan in first and Heinrich Haussler in second. Liquigas’ Sagan now has seven Amgen Tour of California stage wins to his credit, an ATOC record.

With half the tour in the books, the Team Exergy boys look good. And having been in the mix for all four sprint finishes so far this week, Fast Freddie looks great. He currently sits in fifth place in the overall general classification, 36 seconds behind Sagan.

Tomorrow’s Stage 5 course, in contrast to today’s long and mountainous route, is short and flat: an 18.4-mile individual time trial in Bakersfield. Racing begins at 2 p.m. MDT. Live coverage starts on NBC Sports Channelat 2:30 p.m. MDT. Morgan Schmitt should be out on the course as coverage begins. Andres Diaz starts at 3:11 p.m., Matt Cooke at 3:14 p.m. and Freddie takes to the road at 4:04 p.m. MDT.

Amgen Tour of California – Stage 3

Today’s race from San Jose to Livermore had been circled on the calendar for months. Up Mt. Diablo, over Patterson Pass, descend into Livermore and let Freddie do his magic.
Everything went according to plan; Freddie and three other Exergy riders remained in the main peloton after three King of the Mountain summits. The day’s break had been reeled back in after spending most of the day off the front. The Exergy boys ushered Freddie to the front of the pack to take his place among the sprinters.

But no plan can account for a large bunch sprint. And in the end Freddie’s magic couldn’t hold back a seemingly unstoppable Peter Sagan from taking his third straight win in as many days. Freddie got caught behind traffic and crossed over the line in sixth place. Garmin-Barracuda’s Heinrich Haussler came in second, for the third time in as many days. Omega Pharma-Quickstep’s Tom Boonen, currently number one in the UCI World Tour rankings, placed third.

Naturally the boys feel disappointed, but much still remains to be celebrated. Team Exergy’s riders took to their bikes today with tired legs after two long days of racing, but early on in the stage those same tired legs successfully carried them up the day’s first KOM summit. After two more KOMs Matt Cooke, Morgan Schmitt, Andres Diaz and Freddie all finished with the main peloton, keeping Team Exergy tied for first in the team competition alongside most of the UCI World Tour teams.

And Freddie’s sixth place finish, his third top-ten finish in three days, helped move him back up to fourth place overall after yesterday’s fourth-place rider, GreenEdge’s Leigh Howard, was dropped on a climb earlier in the day. Freddie sits just 26 seconds behind Sagan.

The boys are riding well and things look good for tomorrow, according to Director Sportif Tad Hamilton. Of course, with 130 miles of road to cover and six KOMs standing between Sonora and Clovis it promises to be a tough day. Live race coverage begins at 3 p.m. MDT tomorrow on NBC Sports Channel.

Amgen Tour of California -Stage 2

Today’s 117-mile race began in the shadow of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, and the boys quickly left the city behind them as they began the trek to Santa Cruz. An early two-man attack managed to gain a two-minute gap, but they quickly found themselves back in the peloton.

About an hour into the day’s ride a break of six men took hold, building a lead of 10 minutes before the boys in the peloton decided to begin the process of reeling them back in. All but one of the break’s six riders, Alexandre Geniez of Argos-Shimano, rejoined the field on the descent of the first King of the Mountain summit. Geniez maintained his solo break until finally being caught on the slopes of the second KOM, about 35 km from the finish.

With about five km to go a crash took down several BMC riders and US National Champion Matthew Busche of RadioShack Nissan. Meanwhile Liquigas maintained control of the peloton, working to protect their man in the yellow jersey, Peter Sagan. On the line it was Sagan, followed by yesterday’s second-place winner Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda) and GreenEdge’s Leigh Howard. Exergy’s Fred Rodriguez pulled in at fifth place, which puts him in fifth place overall as well, just 16 seconds behind Sagan.

Sagan, despite mechanicals and crashes, looks strong and could certainly hold on to the yellow until Sunday. The individual time trial on Thursday and Mount Baldy on Saturday, however, still stand in his way and could certainly be game changers.

Tomorrow the boys ride the 115 miles from San Jose to Livermore. Start time is 11:15 a.m., with live coverage beginning on NBC Sports Channel at 3 p.m. MDT. The route just happens to be in Fast Freddie’s backyard, so tune in to watch him show the competition how things work in his neighborhood.

Amgen Tour of California - Stage 1

Team Exergy has been called an underdog for this week’s high-profile Amgen Tour of California, but perhaps the Exergy boys didn’t get the message. From Sam Johnson’s four hour breakaway to Freddie Rodriguez’s third-place sprint, Team Exergy proved they are serious contenders in this world-class event.

Just three kilometers into today’s 185-kilometer ride, Sam swung his axe and split off the front as part of an eight-man breakaway. Joining Sam in the break were Maxime Bouet (ag2R), Jeff Louder (United Healthcare), David Boily (Team Spidertech), Andrew Dahlheim and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling), Sabastian Salas (Team Optum Pro Cycling), and Josh Atkins (Bontrager-Livestrong).

At 11 kilometers, the gap had grown to four minutes. By the time the race began airing on NBC Sports Network, some two-and-one-half hours into the race, the group was more than eight minutes up the road.

Sam worked with the others in the break, but refrained from contesting sprints and King-of-the-Mountain points, instead saving energy for a possible stage win or Most Aggressive Rider nod if the break stayed away. Having Sam up the road benefitted the Exergy boys back in the peloton by allowing them to concentrate their energies on a Fast Freddie sprint finish rather than chasing back a break.

With about 30 minutes left to ride, however, Sam’s day in the break came to an end and he rejoined the peloton. And while Sam didn’t win any official sprint or KOM points, he did gain valuable points in his mother’s eyes by wishing her a Happy Mother’s Day on national television.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton, the fourth and final KOM climb up Coleman Valley Road split the field. Freddie, Matt Cooke and Andres Diaz stayed with the lead group as the peloton absorbed the remaining riders in the break. With about 8 km remaining, Liquigas’s Peter Sagan, a favorite to win today’s stage, flatted. His teammates returned him to the main field and back to the front of the race with less than 2 kilometers to go.

And then the sprint was on. With one kilometer remaining, Freddie sat about 20 riders back in the field behind the lead-out trains of Luiqigas, GreenEdge and BMC. He snaked his way through the pack with enough gas at the finish line to give him a third-place finish behind Sagan and Garmin-Barracuda’s Heinrich Haussler.

The boys certainly look right at home in this epic race amongst some of the top names in the sport. From start to finish Team Exergy found itself called out during the live television coverage, first with Sam Johnson’s many kilometers in the breakaway and then with Freddie’s third-place sprint. Thousands of fans lined the course, many of them chanting for local favorite Fast Freddie.

Tomorrow the boys tackle a tough 117-mile ride from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, with two difficult climbs. With the team working well together fans can be assured they haven’t seen the last of Team Exergy this week either on TV or at the finish line. NBC Sports Channel airs live coverage of the race starting at 5 p.m. EDT.

Break at 7 minutes

Big Sam in a group of 8

Tour of California

Sign in for stage 1!!!!!!!