2014 is the 4th year in a row that I've visited the Tour of California. Unfortunately, I was a little pressed on time this year. I was only able to go see Stage 1 in Sacramento (a sprint stage ultimately
won by Mark Cavendish). If you want to take a trip down memory lane, here are some Spectator Reports from last year:
And here's one from 2012:
Spectator Report: 2012 Tour of California
On to the action. The plan for the day was to hang out at the team bus area before the start (my favorite race viewing experience), then drive towards the KOM in Auburn to find a spot to watch the peloton roll by. The day went relatively smoothly and all goals were accomplished. The KOM was packed, so we ended up driving a little more and found a nice and quiet uphill section a few miles down the road.
Team Bus Area
The team bus area is great. You get to see the buses, tons of bikes, and a few of your favorite riders if you're lucky. The race started in downtown Sacramento.
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| Team bus area |
The buses were parked on a long, straight stretch of road. I didn't have my bike with me and I can't exactly run around on my hip yet, so I focused most of my energy on the area that had Omega Pharma Quickstep, Giant Shimano, Cannondale, and Trek.
It's always interesting to see how different the buses are at these North American races. Some teams (Garmin) have a big bus like normal, while others are in rented RVs (Omega Pharma QuickStep). Here's a collection of team buses.
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| Garmin Sharp bus |
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| BMC bus |
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| Cannondale bus |
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| Giant Shimano bus |
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| Jamis bus |
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| Jelly Belly bus |
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| Team Sky bus |
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| Trek bus |
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| United Healthcare bus |
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| Belkin bus | |
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As you can already see, the bikes are usually lined up by the buses and they are surprisingly accessible. For some teams you could just reach out and touch them. The most interesting bike of the day was Tom Boonen's custom "Tornado Tom" themed paint job. You can see more pictures
here.
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| Tom Boonen's custom bike for the 2014 Tour of California |
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| The paint changes colors from different angles |
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| My pictures don't really do it justice |
I got a few pictures of some of the custom national champion bikes while I was at it.
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| USA (Freddie Rodriguez) |
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| Rotor made some awesome looking chainrings to go with the theme |
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| Mexico (Luis Lemus) |
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| The Mexican-themed chainrings. Also, Luis Lemus is pretty active on Strava, so go follow him there. |
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| Norway (Thor Hushovd) |
Here are some other bikes:
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| Jens Voigt's bike |
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| Stage-winning bike of Mark Cavendish |
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| Matt Goss. I highly recommend watching Orica GreenEdge's videos on YouTube. |
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| Peter Sagan's bike for the 2014 Tour of California |
One of the more interesting things I saw was the camera on John Degenkolb's bike. It turned out to be a Shimano camera that recorded
this awesome footage.
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| John Degenkolb's bike. |
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| The Shimano camera with an interesting looking mount |
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| Degenkolb giving and interview |
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| Here they were actually getting the camera ready before the race. |
I also got to see Giant Shimano's photographer at work.
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| Giant Shimano's photographer |
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| My low-budget version of the team photo |
I managed to see quite a few riders.
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| Freddie Rodriguez |
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| Greg Van Avermaet |
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| Michael Schar |
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| Niki Terpstra |
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| Peter Sagan |
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| Peter Sagan |
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| Peter Sagan |
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| Peter Sgan |
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| Sagan draws a huge crowd |
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| Peter Stetina |
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| Peter Stetina |
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| Thor Hushovd |
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| Thor Hushovd |
I'd like to give special mention to Jens Voigt, who is going to retire after this year. First of all, he came to Reno last year and did a ride up Mt. Rose, which was a really fun time for me even though I got dropped about halfway up the climb (read about it
here). Second, I've seen him quite a few times over the last few years and he is always super nice to the fans. Today was no exception. He took more pictures than any rider I saw. He always seems to have something funny to say and he gets a laugh out of every fan who takes a picture with him. The sport is going to miss you, Jens. I hope he ends up on TV. He'd be perfect for it.
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| Jens Voigt |
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| Jens Voigt |
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| Jens Voigt |
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| Jens Voigt |
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| Jens Voigt |
Here are a few random photos.
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| I spotted the GCN crew in Sacramento. They are my favorite channel on YouTube behind Orica GreenEdge. |
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| This little fan got a Peter Sagan autograph |
My wife was on Tom Boonen patrol. He's one of the few riders she's actually heard of. She also got a good picture of Mark Cavendish.
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| Tom Boonen |
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| Tom Boonen |
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| Mark Cavendish |
The Race
As mentioned, the KOM was packed, so we kept driving and found a small uphill section where there weren't too many people around. I had enough time to get in a short ride, then I could tell the race was getting closer. None of my photos or videos really turned out all that well, but I'll post them anyway. There was a small breakaway group and the peloton was closer behind than I expected. Omega Pharma was on the front, followed by Giant Shimano and Sky. Cavendish ended up winning the stage in a very close photo finish against Degenkolb. As it stands right now, it looks like Bradley Wiggins is going to win GC. So it appears that the proper teams were at the front already on Stage 1.
