USA champion Dave ‘Captain America’ Zabriskie grabbed both the stage win and the overall lead in the Amgen Tour of California, dominating the stage five time trial with a superb performance.
The Garmin Barracuda rider beat the surprisingly-good veteran Jens Voigt (RadioShack Nissan) by 23 seconds, with upcoming American talent Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) clocking third, 34 seconds back. Rabobank’s Dutch climber Robert Gesink was fourth, with Andrew Talansky (Garmin Barracuda) and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma Quick Step) completing the top six.
“The biggest factor was probably the heat, the second factor the wind and thirdly there wasn’t much to look at out there, so it was mentally tough out there,” Zabriskie said afterwards. “But that’s the kind of course I like.”
“Any course where I don’t have to get out of the bars is to my advantage. My position is pretty good in the wind so I was welcoming the wind. I really liked the course.”
Zabriskie has clocked up six national TT titles and earlier this year, took the opening time trial in the Tour de Langkawi. The Amgen Tour of California has long been a target for him, the 33 year old netting second in 2009 and 2010, and winning the time trial last year.
He gave an insight into the degree of focus he had, revealing that he came out to this area in February in order to make a video-tape of the 29.7 kilometre course. “I have been watching it quite a bit since then,” he said. “There were specific spots where I wanted to ease back on the pedals but maintain the speed; that sounds strange, but it’s possible to do. The turn was one of those.”
The energy conservation was of value, as he had to push hard on the approach to the line. “The wind picked up on the way back,” he explained. “I knew I had to stay concentrated there and keep my speed.”
The result saw him grab the yellow jersey from Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale), with the Slovakian finishing three minutes 27 seconds back in 52nd place. As expected the time trial reshuffled the general classification, with Van Garderen now 34 seconds back in second place, Gesink five seconds further behind and Andrew Talansky (Garmin Barracuda) 48 seconds off the top slot.
Van Garderen pulled out a very good time, but wasn’t fully satisfied with his own tactics. He was quicker than Zabriskie at the halfway point, but overcooked it and ended up slipping back on the return journey. “I wasn’t too smart in gauging my effort. I saw that I was catching [Chris] Horner and got a bit too excited and focused on catching him instead of gauging my own effort,” he said. “I paid the price for that on the way back. I rallied again when we got to those climbs and started putting out some good power. But on the false flat head wind section was when I really started to suffer.”
Evolution of the leaderboard:
Frenchman Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale) took an early lead when he clocked up a time of 38 minutes 22 seconds; this was improved by Scott Zwizanski (Team Optum Kelly Benefit Strategies), then Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) raced home with a mark of 38 minutes 10 seconds.
The German is a former world time trial champion and was keen to see if he was back to his best. The answer was no, with Rabobank’s Maarten Tjallingii smashing that time by a cool one minute 18 seconds.
The next leader came from an unexpected place, with RadioShack Nissan veteran Jens Voigt turning back the clock and beating Tjallingii’s time by 29 seconds. While Voigt continues to be one of the strongest engines in the bunch, it’s been five years since he won a big race against the clock. The question was, could he do it today?
Voigt’s big threat was likely to come from multiple US champion Dave Zabriskie and that’s how things worked out; the Garmin-Barracuda rider gobbled up the road, catching several of those who started ahead of him, and maintained his aero tuck all the way to the line. He improved Voigt’s time by 23 seconds, and laid down a superb time of 35 minutes 59 seconds. It was sure to jump him up the general classification, putting pressure on the other GC riders who planned to make their push for yellow today.
One of those was the former best young rider in the race, Robert Gesink, who is best known as a climber but was also racing very rapidly indeed. The time checks showed that he was remaining close to Zabriskie, and was on course for a strong result. He finished 39 seconds back to go provisional third, and showed that he has the form to try to win the final yellow jersey.
Soon afterwards, Tom Danielson (Garmin Barracuda) came in 28 seconds further back for provisional sixth. His team-mate Andrew Talansky then raced in for the fourth best time.
Out on the course, Tejay Van Garderen was setting times that rivalled those of Zabriskie. The BMC Racing Team rider hurtled on towards the finish and, despite a initial error with his timing there, was confirmed as provisional third, 34 seconds back.
Next to finish was last year’s race winner Chris Horner, who placed only 31st; he’d eventually be ranked 42nd when the other riders had fnished. In dropping two minutes 50 seconds to Zabriskie, the time was far slower than he would have hoped for, and meant that he will have to open serious time over the next two days in the mountains.
Triple race winner Levi Leipheimer also struggled, the Omega Pharma Quick Step rider beating Horner but still finishing one minute 44 seconds off the quickest time. Some, including Horner, had accused him of exaggerating talk that he was not in form, but he insisted that his broken fibula suffered on April 1st was no joke; so it proved.
Peter Velits (Omega Pharma Quick Step) fared better and clocked up the sixth-best time, conceding 49 seconds to Zabriskie.
Last rider to start was the race leader Peter Sagan (Liquigas Cannondale), who had dominated the first four stages and built a 40 second buffer over riders like Zabriskie. He said he’d give his best, but also expected to lose the jersey; early on, he realised that he wasn’t able to match the times the best riders were doing, so eased back to finish 52nd, three minutes 27 behind. The yellow jersey was now on the shoulders of the time trial winner.
Zabriskie has twice finished runner-up in the race and put himself in the frame to push for the final victory this year. Voigt ended the day 23 seconds back, with Van Garderen third at 34 seconds, Gesink a further five seconds down and both Talansky and Velits inside a minute. The race had been totally upended, and the next two days in the mountains are likely to reshuffle things again.
Zabriskie will be keen to hold on at the top, though, with his goal now to prove he’s not just a time trialist but can also win big stage races.