16 May 2012

Traveling at the Tour of California Stage 4

Hot days in California and Sagan won again
I am glad there are 126 riders in this race, but one sure seems to stand out - 22-year old Slovakian Peter Sagan. He won again. Did you know that Peter Sagan has an older shorter brother who also ride on the Liquigas-Cannondale (Italian) team? You are not seeing double, there are two Sagans )Peter (L) and Jurai (R). Only Peter is racing in California this week, he won the green jersey at the AToC in 2010 and 2011, his odds are looking excellent for 2012.
Stage 5 individual time trial is tomorrow, I am guessing Sagan will not win again, but there are no guarantees. 
Lucky Volunteer of the Day
A perfectly good reason to become a volunteer at the Amgen Tour of California is because you might get assigned as security on the steps leading up to the sign-in stage at the start in Sonora. That is what happened to this lucky Volunteer today. Chris happily gathered lots of riders signatures on her tshirt.
Amgen Tour of California Press Release
Jersey Winners
  • Amgen Leader Jersey – Peter Sagan (SVK), Liquigas-Cannondale (ITA)
  • Nissan King of the Mountain Jersey – Sébastian Salas (USA), Optum Powered by Kelly Benefit Strategies (USA)
  • Visit California Sprint Jersey – Peter Sagan (SVK), Liquigas-Cannondale (ITA)  (Heinrich Haussler (AUS), Garmin-Barracuda (USA) will wear the green Visit California Sprint Jersey tomorrow since Peter Sagan cannot wear three jerseys)
  • Rabobank Best Young Rider Jersey – Peter Sagan (SVK), Liquigas-Cannondale (ITA) (Wilco Kelderman (NED), Rabobank Cycling Team (NED) will wear the Robobank Best Young Rider Jersey tomorrow since Peter Sagan cannot wear three jerseys)
  • Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer® Most Courageous Rider Jersey – Markel Irizar Arranburu (ESP), RadioShack-Nissan-Trek (LUX)
  • Exergy Most Aggressive Rider Jersey – Yannick Eijssen (BEL) of BMC Racing Team (USA)
The Race by Country
See you at the race! Individual Time Trial in Bakersfield tomorrow. By the way, any interested citizens will be able to mosey around the course between 8:00-10:00am before the close the route to traffic. The women's ITT starts off at 11:10am, pros at 1:00pm. It'll be hot. 

Pedal Dancer: Word of the Day: contre la montre - against the clock 

2012 Stage 5, ITT Start List: TIME TRIAL START LIST 5 - The order of rider for the time trial tomorrow with each riders official start time.