THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Stage 6: Amgen Tour of California: T-Mobile’s Pollack takes Thousand Oaks sprint
In a blur of pink, T-Mobile’s Olaf Pollack streaked across the finish line at the Amgen corporate campus in Thousand Oaks, upsetting a hard-charging field to win stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California on Saturday. It was the first victory of the season for Pollack’s German T-Mobile squad, and a nice present for T-Mobile's bike sponsor, Giant, whose USA headquarters lies just two miles from the finish line.
After a daring solo attempt by Gerolsteiner’s René Haselbacher was swallowed up in the final 15 meters, Pollack shot across the line ahead of Italian Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and American Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto). Race leader Floyd Landis of Phonak-iShares finished safely in the bunch and is now just one day from securing his overall victory.
Pollack, a 32-year-old sprinter, has been a professional since 1997. His most notable season came in 2004 riding for Gerolsteiner, when he wore the maglia rosa of the Giro d’Italia after stage 1 and took a few second places behind Alessandro Petacchi. Still, Pollack, who took second to Haedo on stage 2 in Santa Rosa, said the finishing speeds in the U.S. have been comparable to those in Europe.
“It was very fast,” Pollack said. “In the last 2500 meters, my teammates Michael Rogers and André Korff went up the left side, and we were faster than the other guys. What can I tell you? I won!”
With no change in the general classification and only a flat circuit race in Redondo Beach remaining, Landis was able to taste victory. It will be a win Landis called “the most satisfying win” of his career. Asked if winning a race in his home state of California is especially rewarding, Landis laughed. “It’s extra sweet because I’m going to In & Out Burger after this!”
Gerolsteiner on the attack
As it has been all week, the weather was perfect and the crowds were thick along the 89.3-mile route from Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks. And as it has been since Levi Leipheimer surrendered his leader’s jersey at the time trial in San Jose on Wednesday, Gerolsteiner was again on the attack.
The first Gerolsteiner rider to make a move was Sven Krauss, who joined a move just 2.5 miles into the stage. Also in the group was Karsten Kroon (CSC), Scott Davis (T-Mobile), Mike Jones (Health Net ), Justin England (Toyota United), Dominique Perras (KodakGallery.com-Sierra Nevada), Brice Jones (Jelly Belly).
With a category four climb 34 miles from the finish, Discovery Channel clearly had thoughts of setting up double stage winner George Hincapie, who has twice won bunch sprints out of select climbing groups. Discovery’s Viatcheslav Ekimov attempted to bridge across to the leaders, in hopes of giving Hincapie a free ride to the line, but the breakaway got word the Russian was coming and accelerated the pace. Once Ekimov was absorbed by the peloton, Discovery Channel went to work at the front, taking the workload off Phonak.
Jelly Belly’s Jones dropped out of the group on the day’s first category four climb, 16.3 miles in, but the remainder of the breakaways stayed away over another category four climb five kilometers later and remained off the front until mile 31. As the peloton pedaled through orange groves, approaching the first sprint point in Ojai, Krauss, the sole remnant of the break, attacked the break with 1km to the sprint line, but was reeled in soon after.
The next Gerolsteiner rider to attack was Fabian Wegmann, winner of the 2005 San Francisco Grand Prix, who first summited the day’s category three climb at mile 35. Leipheimer crossed the KOM line second, securing his victory in the mountains competition.
Next up to stir the pot was Gerolsteiner’s Sebastian Lang, who initiated the day’s most threatening breakaway at mile 47, just before the day’s second sprint point in Santa Paula. Rising solo, Lang held a two-minute advantage over the category-four climb at mile 55.
Looking to join Lang, Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada’s Dominique Perras and Phonak’s Miguel Angel Perdiguero leapt out of the field, but lacked the horsepower to reach the German. Behind, the sprinters’ teams of Juan José Haedo (Toyota-United), Pollack (T-Mobile) and Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) amassed, eager to end the day’s breakaways and set up their lead-out trains. Conspicuously missing was Health Net-Maxxis, whose sprinters Fraser and Henderson had thus far been shut out of a podium finish.
The chase was assisted by Lang’s untimely puncture and slow wheel change at mile 68, and by mile 72 he sat up and waited for the field. It wasn’t long before Krauss was again on the offensive, just three miles from the day’s three 3.1-mile finishing circuits. Krauss opened a maximum advantage of 18 seconds before the field, driven by Toyota-United and Health Net-Maxxis, made the catch at the start/finish line with two laps remaining. With the field back together, the fight for the stage win was on.
Pink party
Like a sleeping giant finally awakened, CSC, the top team in the team classification with Dave Zabriskie in second and Bobby Julich in third, came to the front in hopes of setting up Aussie Stuart O’Grady. With crowd favorite Jens Voigt driving the field, CSC controlled the pace until, in the final kilometer, Haselbacher made what looked like the winning move. It was a valiant effort, but Haselbacher couldn't quite take his advantage all the way to the line, and with CSC’s leadout train fading, the bunch swarmed in the final 15 meters. Blasting across first was Pollack, whose emphatic victory celebration spoke volumes.
“I looked only at the back wheel of André Korff,” Pollack said. “Gord Fraser was behind me, and Rodriguez, Haedo, I think four or five sprinters behind me. It was very difficult to drop [fifth-place finisher] Fabian Wegmann.”
The day was another near miss for Rodriguez, who took second to Haedo in San Luis Obispo. “Today I had some great legs,” Rodriguez said. “I was actually making it over the climbs with the GC guys and with about 50 kilometers to go I started getting a really bad stomach problem so I had to go back to the team car and get some Tums. It was all looking great and I was on J.J.’s wheel with 200 meters to go. Then he sat up, and I wasn’t expecting that, so we hesitated for a second and they came from behind.”
After stage wins by Leipheimer, Haedo, Hincapie and Landis, Pollack’s victory marked the first win of the Amgen Tour of California by a rider unfamiliar to the North American cycling community.
Lang’s solo breakaway earned him the Adobe most aggressive rider jersey. Asked about Gerolsteiner’s non-stop aggressive tactics, Leipheimer said his team has been enjoying its time in California. “Our team is trying to be aggressive, trying to win another stage,” he said. “We’ve been in every single breakaway, most of the time initiating the breakaway. It’s been a great race for us, with Sebastian Lang getting the most aggressive rider jersey today. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
Hincapie kept his lead in the sprint competition and will wear the Clif Bar sprint jersey into Redondo Beach. With no KOM points on offer in tomorrow’s race, Leipheimer is the winner of the California Travel and Tourism king of the mountain jersey. Tom Peterson (TIAA-CREF) will wear the Union Bank best young rider jersey into the final stage.
Riders will complete 10 laps of a 7.65-mile circuit race in Redondo Beach on Sunday to fight for the final stage win and determine the jersey competition winners.
Results are posted. To see how the race developed, simply CLICK HERE to open our Live Update window. Then check back to VeloNews.com for a race report and more photos.
Click here for access to video featuring interviews with CSC's David Zabriskie, Bobby Julich and Jens Voigt.
