IMAGES FROM THE 8th STAGE OF THE TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

By Debbie Bulloch



As I have been writing for the past few days, the 8th stage of the Amgen Tour of California was held in Thousand Oaks, California.

Riding in Stage 8 of the Tour of California

The Amgen Tour of California Comes Home

As promised, here are some of the images from Stage 8 of the Tour.

Enjoy!




Rider Jason McCartney, from Team Radio Shack (Lance Armstrong's team) as he climbs to the summit on the last lap of the 8th Stage. At this point Jason is about 7.3 miles (12.2 km) from the finish line.



Notice the rider in the tucked-in, "aerodynamic" position. He has the aerodynamic advantage over the other riders in the more upright position allowing him to ride faster while spending less energy.



Sometimes fans get way too close to the riders. Bike racing is the only sport where fans are allowed to be this close to the competitors. It was a fan standing close to the riders that caused Lance Armstrong's spectacular fall in the 2005 Tour de Fance.



Canadian rider Ryder Hesjedal, from Team Garmin, won the Tour's 8th stage.



To capture all the drama of the race, cameramen ride on the back of motorcycles that follow the riders throughout the race's course. Sometimes they get reeeeeeally close as you can see in this picture.



Of course, some race images are captured from the television helicopter, flying high above the riders and crowd.



Michael Rogers from team HTC-Columbia wears the yellow jersey, or maillot jaune, indicating that he is the race leader. Michael eventually won the race, just 9 second ahead of second place winner David Zabriskie from Team Garmin and 25 seconds ahead of Levi Leipheimer from Team Radio Shack.

In this photograph, Michael is riding ahead of the peloton.



On this photograph Michael is the fifth rider from the right. Here he is riding in the middle of the pack, where he can draft behind his fellow team members and save precious energy.



Steven Cozza (second rider from the right) from Team Garmin, is known for his large, "non-aerodynamic" moustache.



These riders are on the last climb of the Stage. Notice the pained expression on some of their faces.



Finally, here is the "sweeper wagon." Notice the brooms in front of the car. This car follows, or "sweeps," right behind the last rider. Incidentally, in the Tour de France the last rider to finish the race is awarded the lanterne rouge (the red lantern). This award is in recognition of the fact that the last rider has ridden as many miles as the winner and has probably had to go through greater pain and struggles in order to finish the race.