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RACE REPORTS: TOUR OF CALIFORNIA STAGE 7: NOCENTINI TAKES VICTORY IN PASADENA
Road Bike Action & AFP
February 21, 2009
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Rinaldo Nocentini celebrates his stage 7 victory
(Photo: Ken Conley)
Rinaldo Nocentini bested New Zealand's Hayden Roulston in a sprint finish for the seventh stage of the Tour of California on Saturday as Levi Leipheimer retained the overall lead.
Leipheimer, the two-time defending champion, is poised to claim his third straight title on Sunday, when the race concludes near San Diego. Leipheimer's compatriot and Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, riding in support of the leader, also finished in the main peloton, more than two minutes behind the winner.
Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion who launched a comeback this season after an absence of three and a half years is poised to finish sixth in the Tour of California, less than a month after his 29th-place finish in the Tour Down Under.
The race in Australia was the first of a comeback campaign that is slated to include the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. The penultimate stage saw a serious crash by Spain's Francisco Mancebo. He was hospitalized and believed to have a concussion as well as a broken hand and elbow, his Rock Racing team said.
Nocentini was part of a 10-man breakaway that also included George Hincapie, Frank Schleck and Christian Vande Velde, who ran in front for much of the stage. Nocentini, Roulston and Dutch rider Pieter Weening finally were able to separate themselves with less than four kilometers to go and battled to the finish.
In the shadow of the famous Rose Bowl stadium, which hosted competition at the 1932 and 1984 Olympics as well as football's World Cup final in 1994, Nocentini out-raced Roulston in the final 100m to edge the Kiwi by centimeters. "I think it's my best victory," the 31-year-old Italian said. "I won the Mont Faron stage of the Tour of the Mediterranean in 2007, but here in California, with the top riders in the world, it is more important."
It was also a bonus for his French team AG2R, which has seen four of its riders fall by the wayside in California. Tadej Valjavec arrived in California ailing, Cyril Dessel crashed, John Gadret has a bad knee and Stephane Goubert threw in the towel Saturday, shortly before Nocentini triumphed.
Leipheimer goes into the final stage, which finishes in Escondido near San Diego, with a 36-second overall lead over American David Zabriskie. The tough stage features the four climbs, including the highest elevation the race has ever reached at Palomar Mountain.
How Nocentini Won
The good weather continued on stage seven of the Tour of California that started in the city of Santa Clarita. Rolling out of Santa Clarita the peloton didn’t stay together long as numerous attacks went off the front. The fast pace caused a group of about 20 riders to be dropped off the back before the 25-mile mark.
The early attacks started with Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly Cycling Team) taking a flier off the front of the peloton. He was quickly brought back, with counter attacks coming from Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Kevin De Weert (Quick Step), Jonathan Patrick McCarty (OUCH p/b Maxxis), Kevin Hulsmans (Quick Step) and Glen Chadwick (Rock Racing).
The attacks continued to come fast and furious for the first hour until a group of ten including Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing), Hayden Roulston (Cervélo TestTeam), George Hincapie (Team Columbia-Highroad), Pieter Weening (Rabobank), Fränk Schleck (Saxo Bank), Addy Engels (Quick Step), Martin Elmiger (AG2R-La Mondiale), Markus Zberg (BMC), Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) and Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale) finally established a gap up the climb of Mill Creek.
The break continued to increase their gap over the peloton with Baldwin, taking the KOM points over Schleck, and Hincapie. Up the climb the break had split apart, but regrouped on the descent. With the break back together the gap continued to increase to 3.20 as they closed in on Pasadena
As the peloton started the descent, Francisco Mancebo crashed hard and had to abandon the race with a broken hand and elbow. With Mancebo’s abandonment, Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank) became the leader of the King of the Mountains competition. Up front the break entered the first of five finishing circuits with a gap of 4.25 over the peloton. With gap continuing to increase, Astana went to the front and took control to protect Leipheimer’s lead.
Nocentini was the first rider to attack the breakaway but was brought back by the other riders. The next rider to go was Zberg, with Schleck and Hincapie in tow. The rest of the break managed to clawed their way back before Schleck attacked. It appeared he might hold on until Roulston and Hincapie took up the chase and reeled him in.
With just over three kilometers to go Nocentini and Weening attacked together and were able to distance themselves from the break. With the gap increasing, Roulston dug deep and bridged to the two leaders. With one kilometer to go Weening made solo move for victory but was quickly chased down by Roulston and Nocentini. In the sprint for the line it was Nocentini edging Roulston for the victory.
Tour of California, February 14-22 2009
Saturday, February 21
Stage 7: Santa Clarita- Pasadena, California
Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA/AG2R) 3hr 24min 43sec (avg 41.911 km/h)
2. Hayden Roulston (NZL) same time
3. Pieter Weening (NED) s.t.
4. Markus Zberg (SUI) at 7sec
5. Martin Elmiger (SUI) s.t.
6. Chris Baldwin (USA) s.t.
7. George Hincapie (USA) s.t.
8. Frank Schleck (LUX) s.t.
9. Christian Vande Velde (USA) s.t.
10. Addy Engels (NED) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 7
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA/Astana) 27hr 39min 02sec
2. David Zabriskie (USA) at 36sec
3. Michael Rogers (AUS) at 46sec
4. Jens Voigt (GER) at 1:10
5. Thomas Lovkvist (SWE) at 1:29
6. Lance Armstrong (USA) at 1:46
7. Robert Gesink (NED at 1:54
8. Janez Brajkovic (SLO) at 1:59
9. Christopher Horner (USA) at 2:13
10. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) at 2:21
Selected
17. George Hincapie (USA) at 4:23
32. Floyd Landis (USA) at 10:26
86. Carlos Sastre (ESP) at 37:09
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