JJ Haedo from CSC took the stage in front of the governator here in Sac and we’re all in safe and sound after another day with some burly crashes.  Taylor is still in the u25 jersey, Tom added a few points to his KOM lead and Jason is sitting hapilly in 2nd overall; we couldn’t ask for much more…  Everybody is riding well and the year is certainly starting on a high note for all.

We started today in downtown Santa Rosa with a few neutral laps around jam packed city streets before heading out onto the open roads and up into the hills.  A group of 3 non-threats took off just after K 0 and the field settled in behind the discovery train.  Heading up Trinity Grade towards the first KOM I set up mid-way down their train with Tom on my wheel and with a K to go took off with Tom and his one rival on his wheel.  Tom handilly took the sprint at the top and we all settled back in for the steep descent down the Oakville Grade into Napa.  A few miles up the valley we took a right and headed back up into the hills towards lake berryessa.  I grabbed the last point on the 2nd KOM, securing Tom’s lead for another day, and we all rolled down to the flats for a nervous last 2 hours of racing with crosswinds trying to strengthen but never materializing.  Pate put in a good last dig effort with 30k to go and was caught by the hard-charging lead out trains with 10k left.  A few flick-your-buddy city circuits in front of the State Capitol Building and the race was over.

Tomorrow’s stage has a good hard schtick not far from the finish in San Jose and today will likely have been the last shot for the sprinters, at least for the next few days. Looks like there might be some rain on the way as well.  ugh.

Oh yeah - if you’re ever in the Sacramento area DO NOT stay at the Radisson.  Normally a name you’d associate with a decent room, this place is a dive.  Avoid.