Day 2: Stage 1Before I left the house, it was pouring. And when I say pouring, I mean Cats and Dogs pouring. The hills were socked in with clouds and fog and the drizzle was only broken up by periods of torrential pace. Due to the weather, I was flying solo for today's stage. That was fine. I would rather be solo and happy, then with the family and them miserable
On the way to Davis from Vacaville the wind was extreme. I had both hands on the wheel ever ready for the strong gusts. I could only imagine what it was like out there in the flats.
Due to the downtown start, I elected to park near the freeway on ramp and hoof it into town.
Welcome to Davis!
I think it turned out as well, as on the way back, there was a line of cars waiting at every light. I quickly found 3rd and C and eye-balled for a spot on the fence. On the way there saw a pretty cool "Monster Bike".
That would be cool if this guy was racing!
I detected a gap between two obvious couples, and set to work, slowly inching my way towards the fence. It is kind of shady, but oh well! I eventually got to the fence after about 30 mins of "slow moving". I am sure both couple were thinking, "Where the hell did this guy come from!". I was finally able to start getting some shots! Not only was it wet, it was cold, AND it was windy as mentioned. The hour I waited for the start seemed like eternity, but the commentator was funny and I had brought an umbrella. I wasn't the only one though, some huge crowds that drew similar comments from everyone including the pro cyclists who they interviewed on stage.
Big crowds!
Eventually the riders came out for Sign In. Below are some of the bigger names:
Floyd:
Tyler:
Thor:
Boonen:
Z-man:
Tour de France Winner:
Andy Schleck:
Oscar:
Lance being interviewed (sorry for fuzz):
I was standing there taking shots with my huge ass umbrella to keep my camera for getting wet when a Bissel rider came up and asked if he could share until the start to stay dry. I said sure!
Omer Kem:
They did eventually rollout:
You should recognize some of these guys:
And just like that they were gone:
My plan was to try and beat them to the 128 and thus make it before the roads closed up to Cardiac. It is amazing that even driving 75-80 mph won't get you there in time. By the time I got to Winters, 1 rider was through, and before I could get set up then 2 chasers flew by. I was able to get a shot of the Peloton cruising through.
And then turning the sharp left on Highway (128) towards Cardiac:
I decided instead of trying for an intermediate stop to head straight to Santa Rosa to make sure I was there in time for the finish. I think this was a good move as I was able to walk the booths, buy some loot, and even pick up some cowbells
As with Davis, huge crowd was already there:
A shot of the Finish Line before the start of the madness:
The commentator kept us up to speed on the happenings on the course. Each announcement was lead by cheers, and they always seemed to play to the Levi "home boy" perspective. Eventually we heard of the 3 man synching then the chase group with Levi and most other GC contenders starting to give chase. What was announced next though shocked me, 1st to the line ended the GC clock. This meant that there was no way for Levi's group to catch Mancebo and pretty much decided the winner right there. They did say that the Stage Winner would be decided on the 3 crit laps.
Here's the winning shot!
But the other chasers were close:
I thought for sure he would be caught, and he was by 2 chasers, but we never got the "pass" announcement. Floyd got caught in kind of no mans land. Here is a shot and the look on his face tells it all:
True to his word, Lance tried to be Super Domestique and bring Levi back into the game for the stage win. Didn't happen, but was cool to see Lance at the helm and taking control:
And when push came to shove, Mancebo had the guns to out sprint the others for not just the GC win, but the stage win as well (Sorry for blur, I had the camera raised over my head as far as I could just to get a shot):
Unreal to have lead for that long as part of a break, crack the other 2, pick up 2 more chasers, then crack them and sprint to the win, the whole time keeping the peleton at bay. Pretty impressive!
Rightfully Rewarded!
It was a long ride back home and I was pretty beat after the day. But today made me realize that next year, I will for sure take the week of the ToC off and travel along with it. I had an amazing time the last 2 days. I would go for tomorrows stage, but I think the Mrs has had a enough of my Tour Groupy status for the last few days. I just need to start working on a Press Pass for 2010.
