Tour of California, Stage 7: Claremont - Mt. Baldy, 121.9 km

[Bavarianrider]

Such a beautiful race. I wish they would turn this into a 2 week race at least.
Why not run it against the Vuelta in Spetember? Vuelta is dead meat anyway.

 

[whittashau]

Nice job by Caruso. Liquigas always spots talent well.

 

[jobiwan]

Tommy D now in 3rd.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I like the ToC, but LOL @ today.

 

[Cervelo77]

How do you say "Saunier Duval" in American?

I saw a junior out riding in vintage yellow Saunier Duval kit today and I was almost going to stop him to do some 'splaining, but he'll learn soon enough.

 

[jaylew]

Who's that Bushe guy?

To be fair, he put a great effort in. I was impressed and never heard of him before today.

He didn't follow the usual route. He was a collegiate runner until 3 years ago. Went from amateur to ProTour pretty fast. Finished 3rd at the Tour of Denmark behind Fuglsang and Tuft last year as a neo-pro.

 

[zapata]

And, I'm sorry to be negative, but that leaders jersey literally looks like sh*t..beautiful scenery, though. I'm sure there will be good racing on this mountain one day.

 

[GoAndyGo]

They moved the cut from 11% to 17% early today so most of the sprinters should make it through. I wouldn't mind seeing Sagan win the sprint tomorrow to win the points.

 

[hrotha]

How do you say "Saunier Duval" in American?

Saunier Duval as in Horner's team? No translation needed!

 

[Bavarianrider]

He didn't follow the usual route. He was a collegiate runner until 3 years ago. Went from amateur to ProTour pretty fast. Finished 3rd at the Tour of Denmark behind Fuglsang and Tuft last year as a neo-pro.

That boy gotta have talent. Excpect some huge stuff of him in the future!

 

[Astana1]

Horner is a class act. Great interview.

 

[jobiwan]

Horner just keeps on talking and talking....
He's pretty much previewed the entire stage tomorrow.

 

[jobiwan]

Ten Dam looks like a hockey player with that beard!

 

[roundabout]

Ten Dam looks like a hockey player with that beard!

He looks like a bum.

Had to be said

Nice ride from him.

Interesting finish. Good to see that the route is getting better.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Please ASO make this race bigger! A big race out of Europe would be so coll for cycling and this Cali Tour is the perfect place. Love it

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Busche destroyed the field. He deserves all the credit.

Andy Schleck was a disgrace today.

Hope Bottle enjoyed holding his arms up. The next time he holds his arms up, they'll be putting handcuffs on them.

 

[rides like a girl]

Disappointed! Want to see Levi dropped so bad after sitting on Chris' wheel for so long! Good thing I am watching the Giro, that has good mountain racing! Now those of us in Cali have to listen to know nothings, including P&P, talk all about how Levi kicked andy's **** all over the mountain and how they can't wait for July... Like today meant anything to Andy and like today will magically transfer to the mountains of France...it didn't and it won't!

 

[Parrulo]

Such a beautiful race. I wish they would turn this into a 2 week race at least.
Why not run it against the Vuelta in Spetember? Vuelta is dead meat anyway.

the way you hate the vuelta is pretty funny . . . .

so the vuelta is dead? lol

 

[Anonymous]

ive stopped caring, did some work while tonights was on. Radioshack have turned this into a farce.

Lovely scenery over the last two stages though, California finally showing what it is all about.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Nice racing by Ten Dam appearently!

 

[jobiwan]

Top 10 GC after Stage 7:
1 Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack 20:50:02
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 0:00:38
3 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:02:45
4 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:03:18
5 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad 0:03:23
6 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:03:26
7 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:04:12
8 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:04:33
9 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:04:50
10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:06:16

 

[DenisMenchov]

Nice racing by Ten Dam appearently!

The Netherlands are producing some great cyclists. Ten Dam, Gesink, Kruijswijk, Mollema... Rabobank is doing some wonderful job.

 

[issoisso]

*Mandatory post disparaging the quality of the race*

 

[The Hitch]

I have to say, i loved the thousands of people who would run alongside the riders 90% of them in costumes or with some sort of flag.

Thats dedication.

At several points there was like 25 of them swarming Levi and Horner.

Brilliant.

Not as good as Didi on grossglockner but there were far more of them here.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Please ASO make this race bigger! A big race out of Europe would be so coll for cycling and this Cali Tour is the perfect place. Love it

The problem is, if you made it a two week race, half the non-US international talent would stop showing up for the same reason most people have stopped using the Giro in Tour prep - plus as a .HC race there aren't enough UCI points available to justify the huge amount of effort required to win (see also the Volta a Portugal, which has suffered the same problem over 2 weeks and now 11 stages), especially for a race with so little history and without yet having built up prestige.

They should concentrate on becoming one of the best one week races, THEN look at increasing in length. This year's parcours has shown massive improvement on last year's terrible mess, they look to be on the right lines, but you've got to walk before you can run.