Tour of California Stage 1 2010

The 2010 Tour of California bike race started today. Stage 1 began in Nevada City and finished with a three lap circuit around the capitol building in Sacramento. I like watching the race in Sacramento because I get three opportunities to photograph the riders. I arrived two hours early and chose a corner where I could photograph from the inside of a turn, catching the riders as they accelerate out of the turn. However, by the time the peloton arrived the corner was in complete shadow from the surrounding tall buildings so I had no satisfactory photos from that circuit.

I moved down a block into sunlight to capture the last two laps. On the first two laps, the peloton was bunched up, but the last time by they were strung out. Not good for them, but it made it easier for me to get more photos. I think Andrew Pinfold’s crash split them all apart.

HTC Columbia really had the hammer down, making sure they could deliver their superb sprinter Mark Cavendish into an excellent position for the final all-out sprint.

Radio Shack’s Chris Horner is in the center, riding (by choice, I believe) without gloves.


In last year’s Tour de France, Andy Schleck was second and Lance Armstrong was third. The winner, of course, was Alberto Contador, who is not racing in the Tour of California.


Halfway through the last lap and Team HTC Columbia is already setting Mark Cavendish up for his sprint for the win.


Team Radio Shack is working to put Levi Leipheimer on the podium as the GC winner, but since today’s stage was a sprinter’s duel, they just worked to keep him out of trouble.

Andrew Pinfold (93) after a bad crash[/caption]Hitting the pavement at about 35 mph hurts, besides having your clothes ripped to shreds. [Update: Pinfold crashed again on stage 2 and withdrew from the race.]

Links
—Amgen Tour of California 2010 stage 4 photo gallery