At the end of each stage of the Amgen Tour of California, including Sunday's opener, six jerseys are awarded for various accomplishments.
In addition to earning the yellow Race Leader jersey, team Liquigas-Cannondale's Peter Sagan, 22, of Slovokia won the Best Young Rider jersey and the Sprint jersey on Sunday.
The Most Courageous jersey was awarded to local favorite Levi Leipheimer of team Omega Pharma-Quickstep, eliciting a loud roar from the throng of Santa Rosa fans. The King of the Mountain jersey was awarded to Canadian David Boily of Team Spidertech Powered by C10. The Most Aggressive Rider jersey went to Watsonville's Ben Jacques-Maynes of Bissell Pro Cycling, a team based in Santa Rosa.
"The whole goal is to get out there and wave the Bissell flag," Jacques-Maynes said. "The Most Aggressive Rider jersey is fine with me."
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Twenty-four countries were represented by the 128 riders in Sunday's race. The leading numbers in terms of nationality included: 46 Americans, 13 Australians, 10 Columbians, nine Dutch, and eight French. Of the cycling teams represented, both Bissell Pro Cycling and BMC Racing Team are headquartered in Santa Rosa.
"That's pretty unique that two of the United States teams are from Santa Rosa considering there are only 16 team competing," Amgen Press Operations Director Steve Brunner said.
STARS COME OUT
This year's Tour of California has three of the current top four ranked riders in the world: Belgian Tom Bonnen (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) ranked No. 1, Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) ranked No. 2, and Sagan ranked No. 4.
The last time an American race had three of the four top-ranked cyclists in the world was the 1992 Tour Dupont.
McEWEN'S LAST RIDE
The Tour will be the swan song for famed Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen, 38, of team Orica-Greenedge. McEwen began his career with American race Tour DuPont in 1995 and will retire after the Amgen. McEwen has won an amazing 12 stages at the Tour de France over the duration of his career. McEwen is scheduled to have a press conference at Thursday's Individual Time Trial stage in Bakersfield.
DRUG TESTING
After the post-race media conference, Sagan rode his bike to the Santa Rosa City Hall employee parking lot for his mandatory drug test. After stopping to take a few pictures along the way with excited fans, Sagan was whisked into a parked recreation vehicle for the highly guarded test. After each stage of the Amgen, the stage winner and overall race leader, which can be the same person as with Sagan, are drug tested post-race along with two other riders who are randomly selected for testing. Sunday, the two cyclists chosen for testing were Sam Johnson (Team Exergy) of Switzerland, and American Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing Team).
MATES ASSIST SAGAN
It helps to have teammates like American Edward King and Italian Daniel Oss of Liquiguas-Cannondale. The two teammates that helped Sagan get back in the race after his flat tire, crossed the finish line knowing they were a big part of his win. Oss (31st) raised his fist triumphantly as Sagan took the win and King (64th) finished with a bloodied knee from a crash with three kilometers to go but was fine nonetheless.
"King and Vanotti were are both big guys with strong motors and helped bring Peter back into the race (after the flat tire)," Liquigas-Cannondale liaison and language interpreter Rory Mason said.
PETALUMA TEEN 116TH
Petaluma's Ryan Eastman, 19, of Bontrager Livestrong Team USA, finished towards the back of the pack in 116th, more than seven minutes behind Sagan. This is Eastman's first Amgen.
HINCAPIE'S INFLUENCE
American veteran George Hincapie of BMC Racing Team is not only riding in the Amgen, but his company, Hincapie Sports, which he runs with his brother Rich, designed and provides all the awards jerseys for the race.
EQUIPPING VEHICLES
American team Garmin-Barracuda equips all its sponsored motor vehicles with Garmin navigations systems. In addition to language options in English, French and Korean, a "Zabriskie" language can be selected. American team member David Zabriskie narrates one of the language options for the navigation system and he throws in unique quips such as, "Grab your bikes off the roof, it's a great day.
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