THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
California tour organizers dream of grand-tour status
The Amgen Tour of California is just rolling into its second year as a domestic event, but its organizers hope it can become the fourth grand tour of worldwide bicycle racing.
"Our finish line is to host a grand tour," said Shawn Hunter, president of AEG Sports, during a kickoff press conference at the Argonaut Hotel at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf.
"People laughed when we said that over a year ago. They said, ‘Let’s see you pull off one year of the race first.’ Well, we did, and we’re constantly looking for ways to improve. We want to grow this into a fourth grand tour. We want to grow this into one of the biggest events in the world."
With funding from the Anschutz Entertainment Group, owners of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Staples Center and the Home Depot Center, among others, that goal might not be as far-fetched as it sounds. UCI president Pat McQuaid recently said that the race was being considered for inclusion on the UCI ProTour, and for the second year in a row, the race has drawn top riders from ProTour teams.
"If you study our company, we have bet on emerging sports," Hunter said. "We love cycling and believe its best days are ahead. In America there is great room for growth in the sport, and we’re grateful we have a partner in Amgen, who share our vision."
Before opening the floor to the riders in attendance, a short video highlighted the 2006 event. Race officials say 1.3 million spectators watched that inaugural race, making it the largest sporting event in California history. The 2007 race has been changed slightly, with a shorter time trial to be held later in the tour. The idea, says race director Jim Birrell of Medalist Sports, is to keep the leader’s jersey on a different set of shoulders every night.
Kicking off the event is Sunday’s 1.9-mile prologue from San Francisco’s Ferry Building to the steep climb that ends at Coit Tower, an all-out, five- to six-minute effort. Last year, Levi Leipheimer, then riding for Gerolsteiner, won the prologue and wore the leader’s jersey into his hometown of Santa Rosa, which he said was a highlight of his career. With stage 1 again starting in Sausalito and ending in Santa Rosa, Leipheimer said he’d very much like to repeat history on Monday.
"Last year it was a surprise to win the prologue," said Leipheimer, now riding for Discovery Channel. "I had great legs, just a great day. The next day was one of the best days of my career. It was a little overwhelming; it was such a great experience. I’d love to win again tomorrow. I’m motivated to win again. The most important thing is that it’s a great show. With all the guys who have come here to race, it will be a spectacular week."
Teammate George Hincapie, who finished third in last year’s prologue, said he couldn’t imagine a tougher way to start the race season than with a surge up San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill.
"It’s hard to start the first race of the season with a 3- to 4-kilometer prologue," Hincapie said. "It’s one of the hardest, most violent things you can do. The last kilometer is steep, although there are steeper hills in San Francisco that we’ve raced up.
"But it’s more the effort. You come from base training all winter, doing moderately hard efforts, to an all-out prologue effort. Last year I paced myself on the flat section, and on the last part of the climb my intention was to sprint the last 300 meters but I couldn’t pedal any more and I crawled to the finish line."
Asked how the race compared to some of the biggest events he’s done in Europe, Hincapie said the Amgen Tour of California was a "top-notch event."
"There is so much enthusiasm from the crowds, the sponsors and the race organization," he said. "Everyone was all about wanting to know what the riders want, asking what can we do to improve the race. We don’t get much of that in Europe. I hope it’s a direction other races and organizers will take in the future."
Team CSC’s Bobby Julich, who finished second in last year’s prologue and third overall, used his time on the microphone to talk about the depth of his squad’s roster.
"We have [David Zabriskie], and he is one of the guys who can win," Julich said. "Then we have Fabian Cancellara, who is here and is just done with some wind-tunnel testing in San Diego, so he may be trying out a new position in the prologue, although I don’t know if it will help up a 22-percent grade.
"Christian Vande Velde is motivated, and Stuart O’Grady is feeling strong. Jens Voigt was not on top form at this race last year, he was recovering from an injury, but he was dominant from the Giro d’Italia to the end of the season and I think he’s back to being Jens, attacking every day. We have Karsten Kroon, who is motivated for the spring classics, and J.J. Haedo, which is a case of if you can’t beat him, buy him, I guess. It will be exciting to have a pure sprinter. This year we should have J.J. there to get us a win right off the bat."
With last year’s winner, Floyd Landis, on the sidelines defending himself against doping charges, all eyes will be on Zabriskie, last year’s runner-up. Without a mountaintop finish, this year’s 649-mile course is expected to yield a similar overall classification to last year, when the top five riders in the time trial became the top five overall.
But Zabriskie said he was less sure of his form than he was last year.
"This year my training was more relaxed than last year," Zabriskie said. "I was really excited last year, but I didn’t train as much during this off-season. It will be an experiment to see how my form is."
Asked if he’d had a chance to scout the stage-5 time trial, Zabriskie said he had, and felt that its shorter distance (14.5 miles) would likely mean smaller time gaps between the race leaders leading into the final weekend of racing.
"I think there will probably be some other surprises along the route that could determine the win," he said.
While the star power of the reigning world champion is one of the biggest attractions of this year’s race, Italian Paolo Bettini (Quick Step-Innergetic) said through an interpreter that his desire to race was equal parts training and tourism. Bettini, who lives in a town called California on the Tuscany coast in Italy, is in the United States version of California for the first time.
"One of the nice things about cycling it that you get to see new places," Bettini said. "I don’t know about my early-season form. I’m here to get ready for the big European races. My program is more or less the same, with this being the new event on my schedule. It’s a long trip from Italy to California, but we’re used to traveling, and I don’t think it will affect my build-up to the classics. This is a great experience for me, in my life as well as a rider. I am happy to be here and I think it will be good for my early season."
The trip to California wasn’t the first for two-time Tour de France King of the Mountains winner Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank), a former mountain biker who raced in Napa when it was part of the cross-country World Cup. This week of racing will be the first for Rasmussen since he broke his femur last September, an injury so severe he feared his career might have ended.
"I am nervous about the outcome," Rasmussen said. "I’ll have to take it how it comes. The leg is progressing well, but it’s not quite as strong as the other. But I still have four months to catch up before the Tour de France."
Rasmussen said Rabobank’s hopes lie in Australian sprinter Graeme Brown and climber Robert Geslink.
"I think they will have to ride hard on the climbs to get rid of [Geslink]," Rasmussen said. "For me the jet lag is a challenge. I am still waking up at 3 a.m. Besides that, for Americans I think this will be their world championships. I imagine many of them have been training for this since October of last year. We will have our hands full, and there will be some lesser-known teams for us. I think a large American part of the peloton will give us a run for the money."
Asked which American he foresaw as the eventual winner, Rasmussen pointed to the other riders assembled at the press conference.
"I’m pretty confident we will find the winner from one of the four [American] guys at the end of the table," he said. "In what order, I can’t guess."
Asked the same question, the world champ had a similar answer.
"I had a good look at the race book, and I think it will all come down to the time trial," Bettini said. "There are quite a few of the best time-trial riders sitting next to me here, so I would say it will probably be one of those guys."
