George Hincapie of the Discovery Channel team lit up the Amgen Tour of California stage race on Tuesday with an electrifying sprint win in downtown San Jose. Hincapie’s win came with a 10-second time bonus, which leapfrogged him past race leader Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) and into the golden race leader’s jersey.

The crux of Tuesday’s stage-2 road race was the steep Sierra Road climb, which came 21 miles before the finish of the 95-mile race from Martinez to San Jose. The Discovery Channel team helped fight off a feisty challenge by Leipheimer on that final climb so that Hincapie could be in position to win the finishing sprint from a group of 22 on Almaden Avenue.

"The team was phenomenal today," said Hincapie, who was led out by teammate Michael Barry to beat Davitamon-Lotto teammates Chris Horner and Josep Jufre Pou (second and third respectively). "I hadn’t been doing so much top end [training] on the climbs, so I was suffering a bit on that last climb today. But I knew it was a long way from the top of the climb to the finish."

The win set up a tight battle heading into Wednesday’s critical stage-3 time trial in San Jose. Hincapie now leads Leipheimer by four seconds and CSC’s Bobby Julich by nine seconds.

Tuesday’s stage began in the industrial town of Martinez, east of the San Francisco Bay in the shadows of a Shell Oil refinery. The 95-mile route took riders south through the rolling hills of the East Bay area and featured a series of climbs, including the toughest of the eight-day race, the fearsome Sierra Road climb. Rising 1800 feet in just 3.8 miles for an average pitch of 10 percent — and two steep pitches at 16 percent — Sierra was billed as make-or-break.

One rider who knows Sierra Road well is San Jose local Ben Jacques-Maynes. The Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada was eager to get into an early break, and he did just that when he joined Michael Creed (TIAA-CREF) and Norwegian Mads Kaggestad (Crédit Agricole) on the day’s first King of the Mountain climb at the 14-mile mark.

Those three built a lead of 3:45 over the next 10 miles. Conditions were perfect, with cloudless skies, light winds, and temperatures climbing into the low 60s. Enthusiastic crowds lined the course, thickest at the climbs, and the lead trio continued to build its lead.

Creed leads

Photo: Graham Watson

"We were rolling, and it felt pretty good doing it," Jacques-Maynes said. "When the gap went up to six minutes we were pretty surprised. At that point we thought, let’s keep this gap rolling. I knew there were big hills to come and a lot more riding to do."

With Leipheimer’s Gerolsteiner team setting a moderate tempo at the front of the main field, the break reached its maximum lead of 6:10 at the 52-mile mark, with some rolling climbs, and the climactic Sierra Road to come. Once the next 20 miles, however, that lead dwindled as the climb got closer. The lead trio came unglued on the lower flanks of the climb, with Jacques-Maynes and Kaggestad popping first.

"I wish I had a little more on the hill, but it didn’t matter," said Jacques-Maynes. "I knew we were going to get caught. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to climb with the ProTour riders. I would have had to crest the climb in the lead in order to be with those guys at the finish."

Once the breakaway riders were disposed of, the fireworks began. A flurry of attacks took place, including one by Discovery Channel rider Tom Danielson. When the dust settled a three-man group had formed at the front: Leipheimer, Floyd Landis (Phonak) and Bernard Kohl (T-Mobile).

Ten seconds behind that lead group was a two-man chase, David Zabriskie (CSC) and Riccardo Ricco (Prodir-Saunier Duval). And right behind those two a group of a dozen more, including the second- and third-place GC riders, Hincapie and Julich, was trying to keep a leash on the leaders. Discovery, Davitamon-Lotto and CSC all looked strong, with multiple riders in the break.

There are worse places to race your bicycle

Photo: Graham Watson

CSC’s Vande Velde said Discovery was controlling things. "We thought Dave was a little further up than he was, so Discovery was doing all the work to bring it back," he said. "But then we saw Dave around the corner, so we had to start helping bring back Floyd and Levi and Bernard Kohl. I did a little dig, but Discovery had a lot of guys pulling."

Zabriskie said he lost some rhythm when he pulled his foot out of his pedal. "Levi knew everybody was getting dropped and he was just gassing it," Zabriskie said. "It was him and Floyd and [Kohl], and I couldn’t catch them by myself. [Ricco] wasn’t helping much."

Going over the top of the climb, Zabriskie wasn’t sure what was happening behind him, so he just kept pushing it. "I didn’t know if they were looking at each other, so I figured I better keep going."

Finally Zabriskie got word of the group behind him, so he waited and joined them in the pursuit. The lead trio gained a bit of time in the descent, and had a 35-second advantage heading into the final 10 miles. With Jason McCartney and Barry pulling him, Hincapie was secure in the chase. "At that point, I didn’t need to work anymore, and those guys just reeled in Floyd and Levi," Hincapie said.

... and the same trio rolling it toward San Jose

Photo: Graham Watson

The leaders were caught about five miles from the finish. From that point on, it was Discovery’s race. "The team kept it together, they kept a high pace for the end," Hincapie said.

Horner, who finished second in the sprint, gave a quick recap. "Going into the last kilometer, it was Michael Barry on the front," he said. "Then George was second, Levi third, I was fourth. Hincapie just had a very good sprint there at the finish and I couldn’t come around him. I had to come by Levi first to get up to Hincapie’s wheel and I think that might have cost me an little energy, but I certainly haven’t shown that I have the speed around Hincapie in the past, and I don’t think I could’ve done it today. But I thought I’d give it a go, anyway."

Heading into Wednesday’s 17-mile time trial, Hincapie said that in his mind Leipheimer is the favorite. And with few opportunities to make up time in the final four stages, tomorrow’s stage will be a major factor in the overall.

What’s up next: The moment of truth
Many are pointing to Wednesday’s 17-mile time trial as the stage most likely to determine the overall classification. The course opens with 10 miles of rolling hills, sometimes steep, followed by a six-mile stretch of flat with a small riser in the final mile. Horner said if he were a betting man, he’d put his money on Leipheimer.

"Levi looks really good," Horner said. "I know Discovery and CSC both have some strong time-trial riders, but Levi can time trial when he has this kind of form, and I think we all know he’s on good form. Today he didn’t podium, but to do what he did, to be out there as long as he was today, you have to have incredible form. We had easily 10 guys chasing him, and tomorrow there’s only going to be one guy chasing him. I think we’ll see some guys who are specialists giving him a run for the money, but I would bet on Levi."

Asked if he thought Leipheimer’s efforts to keep the group away at the finish might be his undoing in Wednesday’s time trial, Horner replied that when a rider has good form he can recover quickly from that sort of effort.

"Certainly Levi put out some watts today, but everybody did, because when you are getting dropped you’re hurting just as much as he was [on the flats]," Horner said. "He was probably hurting less, because when you’re at the front of a climb you’re not hurting too much. With his fitness, he should be able to recover overnight."

The Discovery Channel captain takes the overall lead from Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer

Photo: Graham Watson

Asked for his predictions about the pivotal time trial stage, Hincapie pointed to the strength of his Discovery Channel squad.

"I think tomorrow will be a very crucial day," Hincapie said. "Probably the most crucial of the race. I think Floyd and Levi and Dave [Zabriskie] are probably the favorites. We have some good time trialists on our team. Obviously we want to win the race, and I am going to go as hard as I can tomorrow, and Tom [Danielson] and Jason [McCartney] are going to go good. If we’re close, we’re just going to keep attacking. If we stay close, those guys will be pretty nervous. There’s a lot of racing to go.

"This time trial is tough to predict. It’s the first race of the season for most of us. We’re digging in the red zone, which we haven’t done since September — the San Francisco race is the last time I went this hard. You train hard, but you can never train as hard as you go in a race. I can’t say what kind of time gaps there will be."

—VeloNews senior writer Neal Rogers contributed to this report.

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