Out on my bike today I was thinking about the Amgen Tour of California that just wrapped up Sunday with George Hincapie winning the final stage and Levi Leipheimer winning the title.

I enjoyed this third Tour more than the previous ones. Here are five reasons why I think this was the best one yet. In no particular order:

1. The caliber of the competition. The participation of cyclists who have made their reputation in Europe was exciting. Tom Boonen, Fabian Cancellara, David Millar all played a role in this year's Tour. But the highlight was definitely Mario Cipollini, left, who came out of retirement at 40 to join the Rock Racing team.

I expected he'd be just so much window dressing, but the guy came to race....   more »

Two former US teammates capped off the third Amgen Tour of California with a thrilling one-two punch on Sunday.

George Hincapie took the Stage 7 win, vindicating his High Road team that had been ruled out of a stage victory the previous day. And Levi Leipheimer won his second straight Tour championship, his first as leader of the Astana team.

Joining Leipheimer on the podium were Slipstream cyclists David Millar of the UK and Christian Vande Velde of the US, who finished 2nd and 3rd behind Leipheimer ...   more »

Race judges awarded Stage 6 to Brazil's Luciano Pagliarini because the first man across the finish line, Mark Cavendish used a team car to regain the peloton after a crash by other riders at the Amgen Tour of California.

The 20-second penalty must be a huge disappointment for Cavendish's High Road Team, which has yet to win a stage or make a threat in the overall leader's race.

American Levi Leipheimer finished safely in the peloton and retained his lead in the Tour. He only has to hold it for one more day to win the event in the final stage to Pasadena on Sunday ...   more »

American Levi Leipheimer blistered the 15-mile individual time trial at the Amgen Tour of California on Friday, beating his closest challenger by a full minute.

Two-time world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, whose hopes for a golden jersey rested on this course around Solvang, had a disappointing day. Instead of climbing back into the lead that he held after the prologue, the Team CSC rider fell out of 2nd place .

The stage win by Leipheimer puts him closer to an overall victory for Tour of California for the second straight year. He'll be able to rely on his strong Astana team on the 105-mile stage from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita on Saturday, and the concluding 93-mile bike race into Pasadena on Sunday ...   more »

Staying with the breaks for 125 miles into a spitting rain paid off for Dominique Rollin on Thursday when he launched a solo break near the finish and won Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California.

Levi Leipheimer retained the leader's golden jersey, due to the efforts of his Astana team riding at the head of peloton and controlling the race.

If there is glamour in the sport of cycling, it wasn't in evidence in Thursday's stage. In addition to many cyclists being ravaged by stomach flu, the rest of the peloton spent the day pedaling down Pacific Coast Highway into rain and head- and side-winds for 135 miles between Seaside and San Luis Obispo.

How bad was it? The final results show that 15 riders dropped out during the stage, in addition to 3 who couldn't start in the morning. Among the drop-outs, Tom Danielson from Slipstream and Jackson Stewart (BMC Racing), who had just reclaimed the King of the Mountains jersey before climbing into an ambulance to be treated for hypothermia. ...   more »

American Levi Leipheimer won back the Amgen Tour of California's golden leader's jersey on Wednesday in his battle to defend his title from 2007.

At the finish line in San Jose, Leipheimer thanked stage winner Robert Gesink for his success, as the Rabobank cyclist helped Astana's Leipheimer hold off the peloton in the final miles after the grueling summit of Sierra Road.

Their cooperation ensured that Team CSC's Fabian Cancellara did not take back the leader's jersey on a day the peloton struggled up the beyond-category climb of Mount Hamilton, followed by the 1st-category Sierra Road...   more »

Without a doubt, Modesto has never hosted so many elite pro cyclists as are showing up to roll out Wednesday morning for Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California.

The Central Valley town used to be my home for about 10 years beginning in the mid-1980s. During that time Nelson Vails was the only prominent cyclist to ride within sight of the arch emblazoned with the slogan "Water Wealth Contentment Health."

Vails wasn't, or isn't, a household name for many. I had seen Vails win a silver medal in the individual sprint at the velodrome at the '84 Summer Games in Los Angeles. He also had small role in that atrocity, Quicksilver ...   more »

Belgium's one-day race specialist Tom Boonen (left) took the final sprint in Sacramento on Tuesday, as Slipstream's Tyler Farrar (right) of Seattle stepped into the overall lead of the Amgen Tour of California.

The Stage 2 win marked the first in the US for Boonen, the leader of the QuickStep team. The 27-year-old is among the winningest riders in the peloton, with stage wins at the Tour de France and many of the spring classics trophies on his mantel.

The third cyclist across the line was a blast from the past, Mario Cipollini, who returned to pro cycling after two years of retirement. You gotta tip your helmet to the 40-year-old Rock Racing sprinter, who obviously did more than sit around cafes drinking wine the past two years.

Farrar's climb into the overall lead is a real bonus for the 23-year-old Wenatchee native and a credit to the Slipstream team...   more »

Team CSC's Juan Jose Haedo won the sprint finish in Santa Rosa on Monday, marking the third year that the Argentine speedster has won a stage of the Amgen Tour of California.

Teammate Fabian Cancellara, who held on to the overall leader's yellow jersey, was seen cheering back in the bunch as Haedo won by about two bike lengths.

A bunch of 70-some cyclists made it into Santa Rosa in time to race in the three 3.1-mile circuits around town. It looked like QuickStep was leading out Tom Boonen, but CSC Bobby Julich took over and helped power Haedo toward the finish. BMC's Alexander Moos also attacked on the final circuit...   more »

Cycling fans who are shocked by the unfairness of the Astana cycling team's banishment from the Tour de France will want to sign a petition at LetLeviRide.com.

American cyclist Levi Leipheimer launched the campaign to petition the Amaury Sports Organization to allow his Astana team to compete in the Tour de France,  as well as Paris-Nice and other races it owns.

ASO announced it banned Astana from the Tour de France because of doping problems the past couple of years, in spite of the fact that management has been overhauled this year and many of the cyclists are new...   more »

With the precision of a Swiss timepiece, Fabian Cancellara grabbed the prologue win in Palo Alto for the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday.

The world champion time trial champion finished the 2.1-mile route in 3:51. Levi Leipheimer, defending champion and last year's prologue winner on a climbing course up to Coit Tower in San Francisco, finished in 4th place, about 6 seconds behind.

The best team effort was put in by Slipstream-Chipotle, which placed four riders in the top 10. They were Tyler Farrar, David Zabriskie, David Millar and Steven Cozza ...   more »

The prologue for the Amgen Tour of California starts at 1 p.m. (PT) today in Palo Alto, but Rock Racing's roster Saturday night looked like a big question mark. 

Tyler Hamilton. Oscar Sevilla. Santiago Botero. Will they attempt to race in spite of being banned? Apparently not.

And will one of the greatest sprinters of all time, Mario Cipollini, actually emerge from retirement at age 40 and slip on Rock Racing's black jersey? Apparently so ...   more »

Can't make it to the roadside for the Amgen Tour of California, which rolls out Sunday through Feb. 24? There are many ways to watch it from the comfort of your office or home computer. 

I'm not encouraging slacking off at work, but computer users will get an enhanced Tour Tracker that offers video streaming, expert audio and other cool doo-dads at the official website this year. There's also "play-by-play" offered by VeloNews and CyclingNews, as well as the highlights presented by Versus on cable TV.

You'll  have to look for the link to Tour Tracker on the Amgen Tour of California website. This is the third year the Adobe and Computer Sciences Corp. have combined attempted this, and frankly the second year was much more reliable than the first. ...   more »

Some of pro cycling's top guns are expected in Palo Alto on Sunday to kick off the competition for the 3rd annual Amgen Tour of California.

On Tuesday, organizers issued a list of 10 "big names" that are signed up to compete in the 650-mile, eight-day race. A complete roster from the 17 teams is expected on Thursday.

The names on the list include not only the usual suspects from US racing, but international stars as well. They are: ...   more »

Tom Boonen is the latest pro cyclist to announce he's competing in the 2008 Tour of California, which rolls out Feb. 17-24.

The QuickStep sprinter who recently won the Tour of Qatar thrives in the spring classics in Europe, but wanted to try something different. There will be plenty of time for more those other races later in the spring....   more »

It's less than a month until the Amgen Tour of California begins and volunteers are still needed for the cycling event that rolls out Feb. 17. The Tour is a huge, moving campaign that relies on volunteers to keep it going.

Many of the volunteers are drawn from the host communities where the eight-stage bicycle race begins for finishes for the day. The cities are Palo Alto, Sausalito, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, Modesto, San Jose, Seaside, San Luis Obispo, Solvang, Santa Barbara, Santa Clarita, and Pasadena.

How many are needed? One host city alone, Modesto, needs 250 more people to volunteer about a half day ...   more »

Updated Jan. 18

Seventeen international and domestic cycling teams will compete in the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, which rolls out February 17-24.

Although the teams have not announced their rosters, we can probably expect to see top Americans who have been dispersed across Astana (defending champ Levi Leipheimer), High Road Sports (George Hincapie), and Team Slipstream Powered by Chipotle (Dave Zabriskie) among others.

This year's 8-day, 650 mile bike race is the third Tour of California. The first was won by Floyd Landis on Phonak; the second by Leipheimer on Discovery Channel.

Here are the 17 teams that are competing...   more »

It's snowing like crazy in the Northeast, ice covers the Midwest, and of course it's raining in the Northwest. So what better time to update what's happening with the 2008 Amgen Tour of California bike race.

Pro cyclists will be rolling down the ramp for the prologue in a little more that two months, but I see that Versus already has scheduled at least 15 hours of cable TV coverage for the race, which runs from Feb. 17-24.

That's great news for cycling fans, although some of the time slots aren't exactly prime time. It looks like the weekend schedule features live coverage, but the rest is late night rebroadcasts of the days events...   more »

The 2008 Amgen Tour of California is about three months from now, and organizers are announcing the stage details for the eight-day bicycle race that blasts along 650 miles of road from February 17-24.

This is the third year for the event, which drew an estimated 1.6 million roadside spectators in 2007. For those not lucky enough to travel to California in February, it looks like the Versus cable network will offer coverage and Adobe TourTracker will return for online live video and commentary.

It's too early for pro cycling teams to announce, but top-notch teams like Discovery, CSC, and Predictor Lotto -- to name but a few -- competed in 2007. Discovery has disbanded, but let's hope international cycling teams with strong contingents of American cyclists return in 2008 ...   more »

The Amgen Tour of California is visiting three new locales among the 12 host cities in the third annual bike race, scheduled for February 17-24, 2008.

The 700-mile bike race will start with a prologue in Palo Alto and conclude in Pasadena with a circuit race. Those two cities are new for the California tour, as is Modesto, the beginning site for Stage 3.

The tour also is visiting Santa Rosa again, the residence of this year's winner Levi Leipheimer of the Discovery Channel team ...   more »

Levi Leipheimer won the 2nd annual Amgen Tour of California this year, wearing the golden leader's jersey from the prologue in San Francisco to the finish in Long Beach.

US-based fans of cycling also won, as they got to witness -- more than 1 million firsthand -- some of the biggest names in the professional cycling competing on US soil.

Sure US riders Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Fred Rodriguez, Chris Horner, Bobby Julich, Christian Vandevelde, Jason McCartney and Dave Zabriskie and others are world-class cyclists. But this race also featured such riders as Ivan Basso, world champions Fabian Cancellara and Paolo Bettini, Jens Voigt, Stuart O'Grady, Thor Hushovd, and many more. ...   more »

American cyclist George Hincapie broke his wrist in that collision early in Saturday's Stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California and won't return for the final stage on Sunday.

In spite of the injury, Hincapie turned in a gritty performance to drive the peloton during the middle of the stage as it lagged behind a 9-man breakaway that threatened to steal the golden jersey from Discovery Channel team leader Levi Leipheimer ...   more »

At some point on Saturday, the Discovery Channel cyclists must have been wondering how many challengers they had to contain to win the Amgen Tour of California for Levi Leipheimer.

While they kept Team CSC's 2nd place Jens Voigt neutralized on the 105-mile stage from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita, his 5th place teammate Stuart O'Grady jumped onto a breakaway and nearly stole the race.

The Australian rider on Team CSC was 1:20 behind Leipheimer in the General Classification on Saturday morning, and suddenly he and eight other riders in the breakaway had a 3-minute gap on the peloton ...   more »

Photo by falling.bullets at flickr.com. Levi Leipheimer fights to add seconds to his margin over challenger Jens Voight in Friday's time trial.

Levi Leipheimer assumed undisputed control of the Amgen Tour of California on Friday, as he powered to victory on the individual time trial and gained valuable seconds on his nearest challenger.

The Discovery Channel cyclist posted the fastest time of 29:40 over the 14.5-mile loop course around Solvang, beating 2nd-place challenger Jens Voigt by 18 seconds, which gives the US rider a 21-second overall lead.

With just two stages remaining, this tour is virtually in the bag for Discovery Channel if Leipheimer's teammates hold off the attacks over the last two stages. Barring a major debacle, the only cyclist within striking distance is Team CSC's Voigt. The strategy for Discovery is easy: "Don't let Voigt get away." ...   more »