Goss told Versus reporter Bob Roll that HTC-Columbia had fulfilled its plan for the Tourtr opf Californioa and hem, and the rest of the team were happy.
It’s a great way to finish off the week, it’s great to get a win for the team, and we had TeJay [Van Garderen] finish in the White Jersey [for best young rider,]” he saod, “so we really pulled it off in perfect fashion.
“The plan from the start was to do the sprint for me, and we came away with a win. That was the goal and we achieved it.”
Goss admitted he hoped that his success here would get him chosen for HTC’s Tour de France squad.
“Certainly one of the next goals is the Tour de France,” he said. “We won’t know the actual final team until just before but that is certainly the race I hope to do in July.”
Escape, Chase, Catch
The break had no chance, with HTC, Saxo Bank, Liquigas, Rabobank, and Sky all wanting to take the stage win. The break got three-and-a-half minutes clear, but the big sprinters’ teams were just waiting to pounce.
Martin Mortensen (Leopard Trek) and Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) decided to bridge to the break with 30 km left, It took them more than a lap, and when they got there, Brad White had already cracked. The remaining five kep5tt on, but they were watching each other, making small attacks, instead of taking regular pulls to keep the pace high.
After seven stages of racing RadioShack’s Chris Horner won the 2011 Amgen Tour of California thanks to a selfless and highly disciplined performance by his powerful teammates.
Freidman and Antogna cracked on the next lap, leaving three. Entering the last lap the trio had 20 seconds on the peloton; they must have known their fate.
Next: Sprinters’ Teams Battle
Sprinters’ Teams Battle
Saxo Bank took the lead for a few kilometers, but they had moved too soon. Shy and HTC had three riders each, while Liquigas brought up two. Rabobank had no one left but its sprinter Oscar Freire, who was content to follow others.
Coming under the one-kilometer banner, HTC had control, with Sky behind. Leigh Howard led Matt Goss, with Sky’s Greg Henderson and Oscar Freire behind.
When Howard dropped back to the left, he momentarily blocked Liquigas’s Peter Sagan. Sagan ducked far left and launched, boxing in the Sky rider.
Sagan rode a very long, very fast sprint to take second. Henderson followed him in to just beat Oscar Friere in a photo finish.
RadioShack’s Chris Horner finished with the rest of the peloton, in 65th. He got in before the first time break, earning himself the General Classification victory.
Horner Wins GC, Leiheimer 2nd
Since the start of the season Team RadioShack planned to dominate at the Tour of California.
“I was told earlier this year that my job was to arrive here at 100 percent and with form. The plan was to come to Cali, train in San Diego, come up to Tahoe and have Levi or myself win the Tour of California.”
The wion was especially sweet for Horner because he had a history with the area.
“I grew up here—my career started here in Thousand Oaks,” he explained. “I had a grin from ear to ear because all these roads we did today were roads I had done back in ’93, ‘94, ‘95, ‘96—I used to come up here every weekend and race.
RadioShack had the strongest team in the Tour, with Matt Busche, Markel Irizar, Dmitriy Muravyev, U.S. champion Ben King, Jason McCartey, and Haimar Zubeldia showing great power and endurance, driving the peloton at a destructive pace while chasing breakaways and pounding up mountains.
While Horner, and Leipheimer, who finished second in GC, both made superb individual efforts, had their team been any less spectacular, those efforts would have been wasted.
Next: Tour de France Aspirations
Tour de France Aspirations
There are two major races coming up, the seven-stage Critérium du Dauphiné (June 5–12) and the nine-stage Tour de Suisse (June 11–19,) before the Big One, which is what all the teams are eyeing: the 2011 Tour de France, from July 2 through July 28.
Most riders will enter one or the other to tune up for Le Tour; From the first day of the season, regardless of how many other races are scheduled, all eyes are looking towards France, Team RadioShack’s included.
“I have fabulous morale for the Tour,” Horner said. “We’ve got four leaders on the team—certainly Levi s going to be the most protected, and after than we have Klodie (Andreas Klöden,) we have Jani Brajkovic, we have myself.
“We’re going to have four protected riders. We’re going to have five really good riders to look after us. I think we can certainly put someone on the podium, and if we can find a little more form out of one of the four of, us we can go for the win.”
| 2011 Amgen Tour of California Stage Eight Results | ||
| 1 | Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad | 2:56:39 |
| 2 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale | 2:56:39 |
| 3 | Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling | 2:56:39 |
| 4 | Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team | 2:56:39 |
| 5 | Kevin Lacombe (Can) Team Spidertech/C10 | 2:56:39 |
| 6 | Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team | 2:56:39 |
| 7 | Jure Kocjan (Slo) Team Type 1-Sanofi Aventis | 2:56:39 |
| 8 | Ken Hanson (USA) Jelly Belly/Kenda | 2:56:39 |
| 9 | Anibal Andres Borrajo (Arg) Jamis-Sutter Home | 2:56:39 |
| 10 | Juan José Haedo (Arg) Saxo Bank Sungard | 2:56:39 |
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| 2011 Amgen Tour of California Final General Classification | ||
| 1 | Christopher Horner (USA) RadioShack | 23:46:41 |
| 2 | Levi Leipheimer (USA) RadioShack | 0:00:38 |
| 3 | Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin-Cervelo | 0:02:45 |
| 4 | Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin-Cervelo | 0:03:18 |
| 5 | Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Highroad | 0:03:23 |
| 6 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank | 0:03:26 |
| 7 | Rory Sutherland (Aus) UnitedHealthcare | 0:04:12 |
| 8 | Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek | 0:04:33 |
| 9 | Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC | 0:04:50 |
| 10 | Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Cervelo | 0:06:16 |
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