Jelly Belly’s Phil Gaimon made it through a wet and wild ride in his first full day in a Pro Tour stage race. Read how it went here.
Stage one of the 2009 Tour of California was supposed to be a sprinters’ day. Not so, as you’ve noticed if you saw the results.
Francisco Mancebo, who won the stage, attacked from the gun, and it seems that there was some confusion as to whose job was to bring him back. Astana must have thought that Saxo Bank would do it, since they had the leader’s jersey. But Fabian Cancellara, who won the prologue yesterday, dropped out. So we just rode around for a couple hours in the rain. I’m pretty sure I heard Jens Voigt discussing real estate, and someone on Rabobank in a political debate.
Instead of organizing a chase and wearing themselves out, Astana decided to explode the field on the second climb. They just set a hard tempo, and only 20 emerged together at the top. I was absent. As a climber, my job is to NOT be absent. But I (like many others) was caught with my pants down when it got hard. I clawed my way up to Frank Schleck’s wheel at the front of the field, just in time to see the Lance group establish itself. They had about a 10-second gap, I was gassed already, and I’m not going to try something on a climb that Schleck couldn’t pull off. Besides, it looked liked they were close enough to come back on the downhill.
I got over the top in a chase group of 10 or so other climbers who were caught with their pants down. Schleck, myself, and several others were motivated and tried to chase ourselves back into the break, but they were too big, and too organized.
That was about all I had for the day. Luckily, with a break like that established, everyone else felt the same, so the field switched into “groupetto” mode. We were big enough that we could all just cruise to the finish and start resting for tomorrow.
I went back to the car to get some bottles, passed them out to my teammates, and learned that somehow the groupetto had split in half. I was on the wrong end of it. Nothing I could do about it but keep rolling. They stopped us in town and gave my group of maybe 50 riders a pro-rated time, meaning the time they think we would have finished if we continued (not) racing. I was little disappointed to miss the opportunity of riding through the finish line, but I’m really just glad I made it to the end.
I just got to the hotel and got all the dirt and grime out of my eyes in time to write this report. In 20 minutes, I’ll see the team soigneur for a massage. Don’t be jealous. This isn’t that kind of massage. There’s no aromatherapy, plug-in waterfalls, or “Songs of the Whale.” Just a girl whose job is to beat the acid out of my legs for half an hour, so I can do it all again tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s stage looks to have similarly difficult terrain and worse weather. Plus, it starts at 8:30. As in, 8:30 AM. That means I have to be done with breakfast by 6, 11 hours from now. Time to stop blogging.
Phil Gaimon is an up-and-coming pro on the Jelly Belly professional cycling team. He’ll be penning his rider diaries from the Tour of California on Bicycling.com and on his site, PhilTheThrill.net.
11 Comments
February 16th, 2009 at 01:02
Thank you for your blog, it is really cool to hear the riders side of what things are like. I really like your witty writing style too. We hope to meet you as we will be attending many of the starts and finishes. This rain has been a real bummer for us as fans as we watched (tried to watch) today’s race at home from our computer, knowing that we had planned to be out in the beautiful California weather to see the real thing, but it was not to be. We will meet up with the TOC on the Tuesday start. See ya then - try to keep warm and dry.
Becky and Alan
February 16th, 2009 at 05:02
When did the AToC become a ProTour race? It isn’t of course, though the intro to this piece says so. Can you imagine what the race would be like if it were? Twenty Team Astanas, Rabobanks, etc. instead of the few that are there? The pace yesterday would have been brutal because someone would have chased! Actually though, I prefer the race in its present configuration as a non-ProTour event: I like that Rock Racing, Ouch, and the other American teams have the chance to race the best PT boys. If the race were a PT event (like the TDU) no, or very few, “local” teams would be permitted to ride. For sure, for sure, for sure Rock Racing wouldn’t make it in the door!
February 16th, 2009 at 10:02
Enjoying your blog. Trying to pick you out in the peleton, are you still wearing yellow shoes?
Note to others: we meet Phil when we did support for the Sakonnet Under 25 Team at 2007 Tour de Tonna. He was the only amateur in a break of 10 that was away for good when he got crashed out, They delivered him to us at the feed zone. he was a bloddy mess & bike destoryed. what really impressed us was he never complained about the pain, never complained about someone crashing him out or how unfair it was he got taken out (he would of been a sure top 10 GC) it was just one of those things. Also, he was very careful not to bleed on the interor of our van.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:02
Why you gotta hate? Just because you couldn’t stop eating cheetos long enough to survive the training rides doesn’t mean you should shit on a fantastic race. Regardless of what you may THINK, there are only pros riding in the ToC and therefore it is a PT.
Ignorance spreads lies.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:02
Hi Phil, thanks for blogging. I’m a 57 year old woman who loves to watch cycling. I live in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri so I hope you will be riding in the Tour of Missouri in September. I’ll be there. I’m at work now and have to see if I can find the California race on the internet and sneak a peak now and then throughout the day. Good luck.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:02
Thanks for the Blog!!! Keep it up. I love the insight from your perspective. Us CAT 3 guys can only imagine how grueling it can be.
GOOD LUCK!
February 16th, 2009 at 12:02
G’day Phil, keep up the good work! We Gainesvilleites are living vicariously through your blog and anything the Gutt has to say.
See you when you’re in town next!
February 16th, 2009 at 03:02
fantastic blog! Great to hear from a rider.
February 16th, 2009 at 03:02
[...] cschande wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptTime to stop blogging. Phil Gaimon is an up-and-coming pro on the Jelly Belly professional cycling team. He’ll be penning his rider diaries from the Tour of California on Bicycling.com and on his site, PhilTheThrill.com. … [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 09:02
Thanks for your blog and email Phil -
Very exciting that you in the tour - keep up the good work!
Mt. Washington is beckoning you back.
Mary
February 18th, 2009 at 05:02
I hate getting caught with my pants down when it gets hard.
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