Stage 3 of the Tour of California started and finished in San Jose. It was a day of climbing and descending over Mt. Hamilton. I checked in via the app and saw there were several breakaway attempts and finally one stuck. It was a larger group of around 7 and then one by one they fell back and were reabsorbed into the peleton. One rider, Toms Skujins with Hincapie Racing Team went off the front and established over a minute lead. The rest of the break then becomes the chasers.
After 2:00 p.m. I switched to video and began watching on my iPad while I worked on my computer. Pretty soon I found myself holding my breathe as Toms increased his lead over the chasers and the peleton. He took risks downhill and almost went off the road at least twice. Gradually Paul, Phil, Christian and Jensie (the announcers) began estimating whether or not Toms would stay away and win the stage.
I learned that Toms was from Latvia and had been racing a long time (he is 23) but without the elusive pro contract. The Hincapie Racing Team was formed to develop young riders and give them opportunities to compete with the pros. The team has been aggressive in all three stages. They look lean and mean in their black cycling kits. Today George Hincapie must have been doing somersaults and back flips.
Cyclists jump into the breakaway because even if they are not successful at staying away they get a lot of attention for their sponsors (obviously even more when the race is televised). And as Jens Voigt has pointed out, while you may only have a 1 in 10 chance of being successful in a breakaway, if you do not try you will not have any chance.
When the lightning strikes, and the 1 out of 10 tries succeeds, it is thrilling. As a fan you want them to succeed. While Toms continued to pour every ounce of his energy on the road, the peleton got their act together and began to seriously chase. They gobbled up the remaining two chasers and narrowed the time gap. The announcers were trying to do the math about distance and time and finally determined Toms still had a chance but they were not sure if he would gain enough time on Peter Sagan to win the leader’s yellow jersey.
Meanwhile, after a day of mechanical difficulties and other challenges Peter Sagan and his teammates began to attack the last hill into the finish. (What sadistic person designs an uphill finish?) I really admire Sagan. He is such a great rider and he’s won lots of green jerseys as a sprinter. He is a consistent rider and is so talented at 25 that I wonder what kind of rider he will develop into… maybe a more playful version of the Badger. Who to cheer for today??
I began cheering for Toms so loudly that Lulu came into the room and started barking and jumping around. The gap continued to close but Toms was getting closer and closer to the finish. At last he crossed the finish line and he won the stage. Then the clock started ticking to see if he would wear the yellow jersey.
Now I could cheer for Peter Sagan. He turned himself inside out to win the sprint for second and retained his second place overall in the race. Toms managed to win the overall lead.
Imagine in one day changing your fortunes. Skujins has the attention of pro cycling managers now. He will probably have a contract for next year by mid-summer. He clearly was enjoying the thrill of victory and trembling from exhaustion and excitement. It was wonderful to witness.
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