Not Exactly France, But It’ll Do

The sun was shining, the crowds were sometimes five- and six-deep along the streets of Redondo Beach and finally, after eight days of racing down the coast of California there was a mass sprint to finish, the whole peloton it seemed, touching bars and wheels trying to win the final stage of the inaugural Tour of California.

For the record, German rider Olaf Pollack of T-Mobile won the final stage, a 76.5-mile circular road race that was 10 laps along the Redondo Beach Esplanade, through Riviera Village and to the start-finish line on Harbor Street, in a time of 2 hours 50 minutes 27 seconds.

For the record, Floyd Landis, a 30-year-old from Murrieta and the lead rider for Phonak, a Swiss team, was the overall winner in a time of 22:46.46, 29 seconds faster than runner-up Dave Zabriskie of Team CSC.

And for the record, riders and team directors, race officials and sponsors seemed to be in agreement -- they will be back next year and they will bring friends.

“This is the best race I’ve ever done in America,” said CSC rider Bobby Julich, 34, who finished third overall and who once finished third in the Tour de France. “I’m so glad I didn’t retire in 2003 so I got a chance to experience this.”

The 600-mile race, which began last Sunday with a race up to Coit Tower in San Francisco, was played out before 1.3 million fans during the week according to estimates provided to race organizers by the California Highway Patrol. For the last stage the crowd was put at about 200,000, including about 75,000 along the final 100 meters of the finish area.

Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive of AEG Sports and Entertainment, which conceived the idea of the race five years ago, wants more.

“This was a good start,” he said, “but this wasn’t good enough. We won’t rest until this race draws 20 million fans like the Tour de France.”

A lofty goal, and because the Tour de France has been around for more than 100 years, it may take awhile. But John Lelangue, team manager for Landis’ Phonak team, said the word is spreading in Europe.

“Riders talk,” he said, “and for a first-year event this has done well. The riders liked the course, loved the hotels, the fan support was excellent for the entire course. Quite frankly, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

The point of nurturing this race, Leiweke said, is to provide a home-country advantage for the rapidly improving group of American cyclists, and five of the top six finishers were from the U.S. After Landis, Zabriskie (Landis’s apartment-mate in Spain during the European racing season) and Julich, Discovery Channel’s George Hincapie, a stage winner at the 2005 Tour de France, was fourth, with Levi Leipheimer of the German Gerolsteiner team sixth.

Sunday’s final stage also offered, besides the photo finish, a dramatic early crash that took down nearly a dozen riders, including 19-year-old Thomas Peterson of TIAA-CREF, who earned the title of best young rider. Peterson, of North Bend, Wash., took the hardest fall. He had blood rushing off his leg and was groggy for a moment.

“I didn’t think I could finish,” he said. But his team car arrived, he was washed up and patched up, and he crossed the finish line painfully joyous. “I did it,” he said.

Landis won the race with his dominant performance in the single time trial last week in San Jose. And by winning this event, the first major race of the season, he also may have stamped himself as a contender for every rider’s main goal -- July’s Tour de France.

“The way Floyd raced here,” Leipheimer said, “it would not be a surprise to see him on the podium in Paris. It will be his second year as a team leader at the Tour and he just looks ready.”

Up until two years ago Landis was Lance Armstrong’s top lieutenant on what was then the U.S. Postal Service team. But Landis, who grew up in the rural Mennonite community of eastern Pennsylvania, chafed at being only a worker bee and left for a better offer at Phonak.

Last year Landis finished ninth at the Tour de France. His goals are higher this year. He made no bold predictions about how he would race this early in the season, but Lelangue said he knew that his team’s No. 1 racer was well-prepared for a race near home.

“His training has been excellent,” Lelangue said. “Already his legs are strong.”

And it might be hard for Landis to defend his title next year. Leiweke guaranteed that more of the top European riders such as Tour de France favorites Jan Ullrich of T-Mobile and Ivan Basso of CSC will be here.

“Absolutely,” Leiweke said.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Final results

The Tour of California’s last day ended in Redondo Beach:

LAST OF SEVEN STAGES

76.5-mile Redondo Beach circuit race

1. Olaf Pollack, Germany, T-Mobile, 2 hours, 50 minutes, 27 seconds.

2. Juan Jose Haedo, Argentina, Toyota-United*

3. Andre Greipel, Germany, T-Mobile*

4. Rene Haselbacher, Austria, Gerolsteiner*

5. Alex Candelario, San Francisco, Jelly Belly*

6. Gord Fraser, Canada, Health Net*

7. Vladimir Gusev, Russia, Discovery Channel*

8. Fred Rodriguez, Emeryville, Calif.*

9. Sergey Lagutin, Uzbekistan, Daavitamon-Lotto*

10. Stuart O’Grady, Australia, CSC*

* -- Same time as Pollack

--

FINAL STANDINGS

1. Floyd Landis, Murrieta, Calif., Phonak, 22 hours, 46 minutes, 46 seconds

2. David Zabriskie, Salt Lake City, CSC, 29 seconds behind

3. Bobby Julich, Reno, Nev., CSC, 0:34

4. George Hincapie, Greenville, S.C., Disc. Ch., 0:45

5. Nathan O’Neill, Australia, Health Net, 1:08

6. Levi Leipheimer, Santa Rosa, Calif., Gerolsteiner, 1:10

7. Cadel Evans, Australia, Davitamon-Lotto, 1:29

8. Thomas Danielson, Durango, Colo., Disc. Ch., 1:49

9. Christian Vande Velde, Lemont, Ill., CSC, 1:55

10. Jason McCartney, Coralville, Iowa, Disc. Ch., 1:58