# Stage 3 at Sierra road photos



## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

Once again, the skies opened up to reveal the gorgeous San Jose hills. After a brutal climb up Mt. Hamilton, a select group gapped the field a the base of Sierra Rd.
George Hincapie had an advantage but Chechu Rubiera reeled him in and led Levi and the leaders up the climb. The final selection was composed of Gesink, Leipheimer, Zabriskie and Horner. Gesink accelerated and Zabriskie and Horner were dropped.
Here’s Gesink and Leipheimer a couple of hundred yards from the summit.



(more…)



full article here:
https://reviews.roadbikereview.com/tour-of-california/2008/02/20/sierra-road-photos/#more-148


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## sometimerider (Sep 21, 2007)

francois said:


> Here’s Gesink and Leipheimer a couple of hundred yards from the summit.


I wonder if anyone got a clock on these guys to compare their Sierra time to what was done on the weekend's Webcor KOM event? (Ok, today's racers did have the disadvantage of doing 130 km, including Hamilton, before that point.)


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

sometimerider said:


> I wonder if anyone got a clock on these guys to compare their Sierra time to what was done on the weekend's Webcor KOM event? (Ok, today's racers did have the disadvantage of doing 130 km, including Hamilton, before that point.)


I am sure we will get it soon enough. It would not have been hard to do using the Tour of California live coverage.

Btw, some nice photos here:
Ummm.... wow. Someday, I would like to ride here.

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Photo by Ken Conley</td></tr></tbody></table>

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Photo by Ken Conley</td></tr></tbody></table>

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Photo by Ken Conley



More coverage here:
http://reviews.roadbikereview.com/tour-of-california

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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

francois said:


> wow. Someday, I would like to ride here.


It's kind of cool to ride out there, but it's totally dry. I think it's 13 miles from the summit of Hamilton to "The Junction" at Del Puerto Canyon Road, and there is NOTHING in between. No water, no food, nothing. It's like a desert. Make sure you are full on water before leaving the top, especially in summer, because it is hotter than hell out there. And it certainly isn't flat. We would ride up Hamilton from San Jose, down the backside out to the junction, then turn around and go back. That's about 65 miles, with maybe 9,000 feet of climbing.


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## dagger (Jul 22, 2004)

Amazing photos


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## elsaltamontes (Sep 13, 2004)

*Some more pictures of Stage 3*

francois, missed you guys. i got caught early on on sierra. so instead of the beauty summit shots, we get the steep sierra road shots. the bonus was i was able to make it down and see the race in the end.

first shot is of hincapie all alone climbing sierra. guess it wasn't long from the summit until the astana team caught him

the 5th to the last shot is leipheimer and gesink racing for first. what an exciting stage. and a difficult one as well.


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## blackhat (Jan 2, 2003)

great pics. is that cozza wearing zabriskie's moustache?


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## elsaltamontes (Sep 13, 2004)

blackhat said:


> great pics. is that cozza wearing zabriskie's moustache?


thanks!
it's cozza wearing mark weir's stache.


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## BlackSteel (Jul 10, 2007)

*Engineers*



sometimerider said:


> I wonder if anyone got a clock on these guys to compare their Sierra time to what was done on the weekend's Webcor KOM event? (Ok, today's racers did have the disadvantage of doing 130 km, including Hamilton, before that point.)



One of the ACTC riders who is an engineer did some calculations and figured that it was 22 minutes for the leaders to climb the back side of Hamilton and 19 minutes to climb Sierra. That sounds about right to me since my non scientific calculation for fast pro's is that they are usually about twice as fast as I was before I did my last Sierra climb which was 3 minutes faster than I ever did before. I usually climb the back side of Hamilton in 45 minutes. My record on Sierra was 35:22 before last Saturday. Now it is 31:11. I don't know if anyone has ever climbed in half the 31:11 time. I would think 18:30 was about Levi's time.


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## PaleAleYum (Jan 12, 2006)

*Leaders Time on Sierra*

If I recall correctly from yesterday the VN live coverage showed times for Gesink & Levi bottom & top that calculated to be in the 19 minute mark. I couldn't find that info archived. 19 minutes that for into the race is blazing.


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## rollinrob (Dec 8, 2002)

Here are some more


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## Fr Ted Crilly (Feb 7, 2002)

rollinrob said:


> Here are some more


Great pics from everyone.
What a great day. It's pretty cool to see the best riders in the world in your own back yard. It made me a feel a little better seeing some of them really struggling up that hill like I (and many more) did. The only guy in these pics who isn't grimacing going up Sierra Rd is that guy in the RBR jersey!

Great to meet so many fellow RBR posters on the Calaveras Rd ride afterwards. Looking forward to March 2nd and a bit more socialising.


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## Dr_John (Oct 11, 2005)

> or Gesink & Levi bottom & top that calculated to be in the 19 minute mark.


 Oh my. Amazing.

Oh, all - thanks for posting the photos.


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