Bicycle Racing: Tour of California Wrap-Up

Levi Leipheimer is happy. Very happy. And it has everything to do with the pretty ladies planting simultaneous double-trouble cheek smooches on his scary-thin-bicycle-racer face. You see--and this is lesson I learned all too well in Junior High--pretty girls don't kiss losers.

Levi lined up with some of the best racers in the world and whooped them all. For the third time in a row. Any doubts that the diminutive rider from Montana owns the Tour of California can be left behind like a thickly-muscled sprinter waging a battle against gravity and his own personal physiology trying to make his way up the 11-mile vertical ascent of Palomar mountain.

As reported by Laura Weislo and Kirsten Robbins of Cyclingnews.com, Leipheimer summed up his 3rd general classification (GC) victory in the Tour of California this way:

"I've dreamt many days about this when I'm training. When I'm pushing alone and suffering alone, I dream about moments like I had on Bonny Doon. We were a long way from the finish, under horrendous conditions. But I was went for it and was feeling great. To be able to pull that off and have Lance Armstrong have your back the entire way was a life long dream for me."

Levi first put the peloton on notice during the opening day's stage. The prologue time trial is a short, explosive event that favors big power riders like Saxo Bank's Fabian Cancellara over smaller-framed GC riders like Leipheimer. Well, someone forgot to tell Levi this rule because he still managed to cover the 2.4-mile distance in second place to Cancellara by only 1.2 seconds. Two days later, Levi put the peloton on permanent notice by launching a devastating attack on Bonny Doon road during the "4.5 hour cold shower" otherwise known as stage 2.

And how did Mr. Armstrong fair? After 9 days of racing that treated the riders to some classic northern California February weather, Lance finished in 7th place overall. What is northern California weather you ask? Well, after the second stage, Leipheimer suggested that the curious among us, "Turn the shower on as cold as it goes and stand in it for 4.5 hours and that's what it feels like out there!" Except Levi forgets the part where they were also racing their bikes in that rain. So I suggest you dust off your old-school exercise bicycle and jump in the shower with it and start pedaling.

Lance's 7th place was a mere, 1 minute and 46 seconds behind his team leader. Here's a test: Go try and fix yourself a proper sandwich lunch in under 1 minute and 46 seconds and I think you'll see that the gap between a rider (Lance) who has different objectives (winning the 3-week long Tour of Italy in May) and the rider (Levi) whose primary season-long goal was to win the Tour of California in February, is small. Look out Lance-haters (I know you're out there), he's back. In a big way.

And what about the other riders you met in the Tour of California preview?

Ivan Basso--The Italian rode well (seen here in his green team kit), if not somewhat anonymously during the first half of the race, keeping up with everyone who wasn't named Levi Leipheimer. Unfortunately, when warming up for the race-defining 6th stage (an individual time trial where it is just a single lonely rider versus the clock), Basso banged his knee on his handlebars causing massive swelling that forced him to withdraw from the race.

Floyd Landis--The soft-spoken Pennsylvanian mostly kept to himself throughout the tour. Landis suffered through a hold-your-breath-I-hope-my-bionic-hip-didn't-break accident on the road and finished in 23rd place overall, 10 minutes and 23 seconds behind the yellow jersey. While he won the very first edition of the Tour of California on the strength of his individual time trial performance, this year he did not rediscover that form on the critical 6th stage. He finished only slightly better than mid-pack in 54th place. His US-based team, with a few notable exceptions, is mostly scheduled to contest a season full of short-format criteriums and single-day road races, so it's questionable whether Floyd will have a chance to shine in the kinds of races that made him famous. Regardless, Mr. Chill seems to be having good time racing his bike again.

Tyler Hamilton--Despite having his mind on more important things (Hamilton's mother is fighting breast cancer), the Massachusetts home-boy rode aggressively throughout the tour and seems to be back in a very real way. Don't let the fact that he finished over an hour down and in 83rd place overall fool you. His no-holds-barred attacking style and stage-4 capture of the "Most Courageous Rider" jersey is the real story. World-wide cycling fans of Hamilton and his Rock Racing team might have to stay tuned to the US racing season though (not just the Armstrong Euro Comeback Tour). Because despite big talk from team management and some serious racing fire power, the team will not likely get invited to rock and roll on the other side of the pond this season due to licensing technicalities.

Is that all?

No. Traditional stick and ball sports can count on venue ticket sales to gauge the relative awesomeness of an event. Because cycling races are contested on wide open roads with no ticket-scanners or scary dudes in polyester blue blazers to search through your purses, we measure success in less scientific ways.

You know those wacky guys who run onto a football or baseball field in the middle of a game before they are arrested or worse, tackled by their heroes? Well in cycling, that kind of crazy behavior is not only allowed, but to a certain degree it is encouraged. Get to that perfect stretch of road, set up your folding chair, portable grill and wait for hours until the best athletes in the world pass by your personal set of front row seats.

AP photographer Marcio Jose Sanchez captured the above scene of an American-flag waving, Lucha Libra mask-wearing fan running alongside all-around German cycling stud and super nice guy, Jens Voigt. In the photo we see Jens riding beyond his normal abilities just in front of Levi Leipheimer on the Palomar Mountain climb. I love this country.

You can only dream of hustling up and down the court with Michael Jordan, or running alongside marathoner Paula Radcliffe as she hitches and hops her way to another victory. Time to wake up and go find a bicycle race. Because when you watch a bicycle race, that dream is real.

Writer/photographer Mark Johnson's up-close and personal experience with the true cycling fans is chronicled on Velonews.com. There were 2 million fans on the roads of California last week and thanks to Johnson and Velonews, we all get to see some of my favorite fans one more time.



And so, the next time a bicycle race comes to your town. Grab a cowbell, stand on the side of the road and cheer on some racers. Because every single one of the big names in this sport started racing on the tiny streets of your home town.


For more complete reporting and many more spectacular images from the 2009 Tour of California, please visit Velonews.com, cyclingnews.com, Getty Images, Associated Press and daylife.com.