Tour of California: Stage 3 Pics

[majl]

Couple of friends and I went out today to watch Stage 3 on the Sierra Road climb (Cat 1). We rode partway up the hill, picked a good spot, then waited in the very unsettled weather for the tour to come by. It was pretty exciting to see first the procession of emergency vehicles, then the official tour car drive by with a loudspeaker announcing that the riders were about a mile behind and that a breakaway was already in the works. The crowd was great. Lots of spectators: riders, walkers, runners, all braving the elements to come out and watch some good old-fashioned bicycle racing!

Here are a few pics to share.

1) Lead group coming up the climb.

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p440970879-5.jpg


2) Breakaway: Bradley White from Ouch in front, followed by Jeffry Louder from BMC, Bauke Mollema from Rabobank, and Brian Vandborg from Liquigas.

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p16249963-5.jpg


3) The venerable Francisco Mancebo from Rock Racing was just behind the leaders. What a brilliant Stage 1 he raced!

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p12412527-5.jpg


4) The peloton was soon to follow with Astana out front. That's Lance six riders back in the black and yellow helmet (just in front of the rider in the white windbreaker) and Levi just behind the rider in the white windbreaker.

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p319073370-5.jpg


5) Popovych setting the pace. This guy is such a warrior. How many times have we seen him leading the peloton through France?!?!

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p516343890-5.jpg


6) There's Levi at the far right of the shot and Michael Rogers (#28) of Team Columbia High Road next to him.

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p16041764-5.jpg

[majl]

7) Jens Voigt from Team Saxo Bank (#16) and "Big" George Hincapie of Team Columbia High Road (in the yellow, black, and white helmet behind the rider in the yellow windbreaker).

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p190922222-5.jpg


8) Big George again, along with Ivan Basso from Liquigas (just behind the other Liquigas rider wearing headphones), and Frank Schleck of Team Saxo Bank (#13).

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p18184368-5.jpg


9) Christian Vandevelde (#31) of Garmin-Slipstream. What a great Tour de France the American had last year!

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v6/p48546761-5.jpg


10) Jason McCartney leading his fellow Team Saxo Bank riders. I can just hear Paul Sherwen now: "Look at that face!"

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p484035743-5.jpg


11) Getting close to the rear now - this is where we begin to see the sprinters, and no surprise, the second rider from the right is the Norwegian, "Big" Thor Hushovd from Cervelo Test Team, and eventual stage 3 winner.

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p231553080-5.jpg


12) Finally, who's at the back of the pack? Sprinter extraordinaire Mark Cavendish from Team Columbia High Road (he's the one suffering at the right of the pic).

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p105493861-5.jpg

[Joel]

Outstanding shots! Thanks for sharing.

[rwsaunders]

Great shots....better than the Versus coverage.

[redir]

:beer: :beer: :beer:

[thwart]

Yow! You could sell those... all great shots.

Thanks for sharing.

[paulh]

Great photos! What camera, lense(s), settings, etc.??

[Lifelover]

I know I'm just adding to the static, but damn those are good shots!

You would make BBD proud!

[soulspinner]

Thanks. Made me happy not to suffer like that... :bike:

[TAW]

Thanks for posting these excellent shots. They are great!

[BumbleBeeDave]

Thanks!!! Great stuff!

I see Mancebo hasn't really changed after all . . . he STILL looks like he's dying when he climbs a hill! At least his helmet's on straight! :rolleyes:

BBD

[Climb01742]

much appreciated. shot that well and shot that close-up, you can really see their faces and the miserable conditions. even in a video age, still shots still rock. thanks.

[ThasFACE]

Sweet shots. Thanks for those.

[EDIT: 500 posts!]

[GuyGadois]

A couple of weekends ago I rode with the Columbia rider shown, Adam Hansen from Australia (at a charity event). Super nice guy who looks after Cavendish. Mark looks like he is having one of those days.

Great photos! I'll try to post some from stage 5 and the TT.

http://majl.zenfolio.com/img/v4/p105493861-5.jpg

[maximus]

Great photo work! Thanks for sharing.

[LegendRider]

Nice shots! I'm not an expert photographer, but I'm curious what type of camera you used.

Also, I'm surprised to see so many carbon wheels on a wet day - it's not like the weather was unforeseen...

[majl]

Thanks for all the kind words!

It really was a lot of fun to be there watching the climb and seeing so many of the same riders that we've seen on television battling through the TdF.

For those interested, equipment being used was a Nikon D300 coupled to the 24-70 lens. I was shooting in aperture mode at f/2.8 and ISO 400. All photos were jpegs straight from the camera with no post-processing other than some cropping in Lightroom. Purchased this camera and lens last spring and have been having a blast with it!

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . and the 18-200mm with VR. GREAT camera! GREAT combo! I also got an SB-800 and the remote capabilities of the flash, set up as a slave to the onboard flash, are amazing. I'm really looking forward to using this camera for Battenkill this year.

BBD

[nowheels2]

really nice shots ..... might steal one for my screen saver.... :D

[bigdeal]

very nice indeed!

[40x14]

Thanks for the telling photos and great descriptions too. Seeing the sprinters struggle at the back when the road goes vertical is definitely not something that's often shown in the mainstream cycling coverage. :)