Saturday, February 23, 2008

Team High Road Stage win, NOT! 2008 Tour of California Stage 6 report

What an incredible sprint finish! As the 6th stage of the Amgen Tour of California wound down in Santa Clarita, several cyclists went on the attack. David Millar (Slipstream Chipotle) bridged up from the peloton to the break when Team Astana took notice and attacked to catch the breakaway and prevent #2 Millar from taking the yellow jersey from Levi Leipheimer. After the pack caught up and passed the breakaway it was every man for himself as the cyclists fought for a place at the podium.

In the end, Mark Cavendish pushed his way to the front to get High Road's first stage win at the 2008 Tour of California. It looks like Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval) has second and JJ Haedo (CSC) has third place. Levi Leipheimer still holds the yellow jersey as he goes into the final stage tomorrow that starts in Santa Clarita.

Update: As BGW notes in his comments, Cavendish was penalized for drafting a team car in the aftermath of a crash that took out four Rock Racing cyclists. The podium first place went to Brazilian sprinter Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval), with JJ Haedo now in 2nd and Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) in third.

More 2008 Tour of California Stage 6 commentary

4 comments:

bikesgonewild said...

...methinks young mr cavendish got quite a motor-paced tow back up to the peloton & despite that awesome sprint, the the lad is gonna be relegated...

...no win & a small time deficit will be his real reward for the day...

bikesgonewild said...

...confirmed !...20 sec time penalty & relegated to last place...

...being as mario cipo got back up there to place 7th in the sprint & he was involved in the same crash, he may have gotten away w/ a fast one (literally)...

bikesgonewild said...

...just to finish up the thought...

...although nobody has written about it yet, i see mario cipo WAS also relegated to last in the finishing group w/ a 20sec time penalty...

Anonymous said...

Here you can find some photo from stage 6 going through Ojai:

http://photo.hlehnerer.com/

Click on Gallery in the top navigation and then on the category Sport.

Have fun exploring.