StageOne

Sausalito to Santa Rosa

97 miles

Monday brought the first stage of real racing as the peloton traversed beautiful Sonoma County. While the BikeTiresDirect crew set up at the finish in Santa Rosa, the peloton pushed off from Sausalito. Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) became the first foreign-born rider to don the leaders jersey. CSC then finished the day off with emerging powerhouse JJ Haedo taking a tough sprint for the win. Teammates Cancellara and Jens Voigt were duly impressed.

The star of the show, naturally, was Super Mario Cipollini, who accomplished yet another impressive feat. He was not only escorted to the start by bodyguards, he had bodyguards escorting him through the first several hundred meters of the race. Rock Racing continues to keep things interesting as they donned new kits to show "solidarity" with the three riders not allowed to start.

As we kept tabs on the race from the finish on the vidi screens, an NRC (the American pro circuit) level women's crit provided some live excitement while the men snaked their way through Sonoma valley. The girls were flying through the streets of Santa Rosa over a very dicey course. These were the same streets that caused a massive pile-up in last years men's race. The narrow course included uneven concrete streets and thousands of really big reflectors paste to the road surface. In the end Brooke Miller (Tibco) pushed her Look Pedals to a surprising win over Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) and her Reynolds wheels.

On the men's side, BMC rider Jackson Stewart served as the hero on the road as he was the only survivor of some early breakaway attempts. His early aggression turned into a solo mission which mounted a thirteen minute lead on the field. As the peloton got organized on the run into Santa Rosa, Stewart began to quickly lose ground, finally being swept up 30k from the finish. Stewart's efforts were rewarded with plenty of TV time, the King of the Mountains jersey and the Most Aggressive Rider award. Stewart was finally dropped off the back as the pace ramped up for the finale.

Both the riders and race organizers learned something from last year, as the dangerous laps through downtown Santa Rosa were reduced to three and rider times taken upon entry to the circuits rather than 1k from the finish. A 20 rider strong surge contested the stage win. Haedo proved his Dura-Ace components still have plenty of up-and-at-em, as he took the sprint out of a strong group containing his teammate Cancellara, Tom Boonen and Paolo Bettini (Quickstep), Gerald Ciolek (High Road) and hometown boy Levi Leipheimer (Astana). Santa Rosa once again proved unfriendly to American favorite George Hincapie, where his 2007 Classics campaign was derailed due to the large crash. He once again hit the ground just meters from the finish, but crossed the line looking calm and collected.

The greatest moment of the day had to be when Jens Voigt rode up to a celebratory Haedo. In his perfect German accent yelled, "How did you do THAT?" Great to see a veteran like him excited over another day at the office.

One of the things I noticed at the race is how extreme the riders' bodies are. The big guys are HUGE, Jens Voigt wouldn't be out of place as a forward on an NBA team, he must be 6'4" 170lbs. Cancellara could be a linebacker on a football team. On the other side, the little guys are small. It's easy to see how Paolo Bettini got nicknamed "Il Grillo" (the cricket), he's probably 5'6" 130, a little body with two skinny little legs sticking out. And Cipollini, well, "larger than life" doesn't begin to describe it.

Tomorrow, we head to Sacramento, where Ah-nold will oversee the festivities. We also expect to see a big shake-up of the race leaders as the peloton tackles the first serious climbs of the race. I don't know if we're going to have enough Continental 2008 Attack/Force Tires to get us through the trip, as the cycling community really has gone black chili crazy.

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