ATOC: Same Book, New Chapter!

Team Sky set up another picture perfect leadout for Ben Swift today. They moved him to the front as the field approached Modesto, controlled the pace through the entire final lap around the city, and Greg Henderson was set to bring him to the line when...uh oh. Where's Swifty? He was there, but just a bit too far back from Henderson's powerful leadout.

But Henderson's leadout was so powerful that he was able to look back, realize that Swift isn't behind him, and then coast across the line to take the stage himself.

It was an unconventional but effective ending to another rather dreary looking but certainly not dreary in spirit stage.

Much of the morning buzz amongst the riders was that this would be the day for a breakaway to survive, so a group of 8 ambitious small team riders was quick to form off the front. They were given almost 7 minutes at the max, but slowly were reeled back into oblivion as the kms winded down.

Then the wind came...

The crosswinds that many had expected to be a factor early hit the riders quite late and splintered the peloton into pieces during the run into the finish. Teams scrambled to organize earlier than they would have in order to bring their sprinters and GC men safely to the front, and most succeeded, but some like Andy Schleck and Thor Hushovd found themselves in a spot of bother.

Luckily for Andy, Thor, and almost everyone else who missed the split, a sweeping left hand bend combined with a strong headwind was able to slow up the Sky driven peloton long enough that they could regroup and safely position themselves up front. The only somewhat notable rider that was impacted by the split was Lars Boom, who would lose a bit less than a minute for the day.
The field ditched the wind when they started their first of several laps around Modesto but they found a new problem...crashes.

Jens Voigt was the first to be impacted when he took a spill along with 2 other riders on the penultimate lap. He would finish the stage, but lost significant time.

This caused some urgency in the field, and the Canadian team Spidertech took control of the race at this point. They brought up nearly everyone on the team to work for sprinter Kevin Lacombe (who finished 6th) and did an admirable job for such a small team, but it was soon time for the big dogs to play.

Saxo Bank was the first team to organize, but soon Sky would take over just like yesterday, and again lock sprinting powerhouses HTC and Garmin out. The crashes were not over yet, though, because a pair of ugly looking falls by Baden Cooke and Michael Matthews (both sprint contenders) disrupted the field in the final kilometer. Both men seemed ok and did finish the stage.
Henderson brought them to the line, and he would bring them home too. He kicked in the hopes that Swift would jump on his wheel, but nobody did and he was all alone on his way to the victory. Hushovd was the first to make a surge to catch him, and soon Haedo and Sagan would also try their hands, but none could reel in the quick Kiwi who was still surprised that he won even when raising his arms in celebration.

Henderson took the yellow jersey away from his teammate via a tiebreaker. Swift finished the day in 11th, which is the same place Henderson finished yesterday, so it will go to Henderson because he is the most recent winner.

The sprinters had their fun, but now it's time to switch gears. We very well could see the field slaughtered on Mt Hamilton and then a short list of race favorites dueling it out on the summit finish at the Sierra Road. Will Andy Schleck go all out? Will Levi seek to take control already? A youngster like Van Garderen? We'll just have to wait and see...