Rollin wins the fourth stage of the Amgen Tour of California

Published February 21, 2008 05:15PM

The longest stage in Tour of California history

With a show of raw power reminiscent of Tom Boonen’s victories in the spring classics, Canadian Dominique Rollin muscled his way to a solo victory in the Amgen Tour of California’s rain-soaked fourth stage. The 25-year-old shattered a dwindling seven-man breakaway with 15 miles remaining in the brutal 135.3-mile slog from Seaside to San Luis Obispo, and then held off breakaway companions George Hincapie (High Road) and Iker Camano (Saunier Duval-Scott) by 18 seconds to take the biggest win of his young career.

“I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it,” Rollin said. “I didn’t really think, I just wanted to go out as hard as I could.”

With his victory, Rollin took over the points classification jersey from German Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner), who abandoned at the beginning of the day. Race leader Levi Leipheimer, whose Astana team patrolled the front of the peloton for the majority of the day, retained his 13-second advantage over Fabian Cancellara (CSC).

Labeled the “Queen Stage” of the Tour of California, the epic journey from Seaside to San Luis Obispo has been a regular since the race’s inception in 2006. But while the 2006 and ’07 editions featured sunshine and mild conditions, rain, bone-chilling temperatures and a gusting headwind transformed the 2008 stage into a soggy slog down California’s famed Highway 1. Raindrops began hitting the pavement shortly before the 10 a.m. start in downtown Seaside, and throughout most of the day riders sported heavy rain slickers, gloves and hats. Photographers and fans, who usually crowd the scenic areas around Big Sur, the Bixby Bridge and the Hearst Castle, showed in small numbers — or not at all.

“I guess we’ve had this coming since it’s been two years of beautiful weather, so it’s like having three bad days rolled into one today,” Leipheimer said. “[Today was] probably in the top three of worst days I’ve ever had on a bike.”

Indeed, Leipheimer, who seized the yellow jersey the previous day, had his team speed to the front of the peloton as soon as the group exited the six-mile rolling neutral start. Astana went to work early, shutting down a flurry of early attacks as the peloton rolled past Carmel River Beach and Garrapata State Park.

Rollin, who started the day 24:29 down in the general classification, appeared eager to venture off the front and was present in several early moves, which Astana duly reeled in. After 15 miles of surges and regroupings, however, an 11-man break pulled free on the winding, rolling road. Present were Rollin, Hincapie, Camano, Baukie Mollema (Rabobank), Julien Belgy (Bouygues-Telecom), Jonathan Hivert (Crédit Agricole), BMC teammates Jackson Stewart and Danilo Wyss, Roman Kilun (Health Net-Maxxis), Edward King (Bissell) and Bryce Meade (Jelly Belly).

A chasing Tom Danielson (Slipstream-Chipotle) appeared on track to join the break. But after falling short in his effort, Danielson abandoned the race, complaining of a stomach bug, much like his teammate Tyler Farrar, who abandoned on Stage 3 while in the leader’s jersey.

For the next 100 miles Astana kept the breakaway on a steady leash, which fluctuated between three and four minutes. Rollin and BMC’s Stewart appeared the aggressors of the bunch — the BMC rider took maximum King of the Mountains points on the day’s three categorized climbs and Rollin took both intermediary sprints.

But Mother Nature continually pelted the riders with hellacious conditions, and after 40 miles chinks appeared in the breakaway. Belgy faded back to the peloton and abandoned at the base of the first KOM. Hivert also faded and eventually called it quits. Kilun and Meade were dropped a short time later, though the former eventually caught back on. Stewart, whose efforts on the climbs made him the virtual King of the Mountains points leader, abandoned after suffering from hypothermia.

After 120 miles and more than six hours, the group had dwindled to seven — Rollin, Camano, Hincapie, Mollema, Wyss, King and Kilun. They appeared to work together well, but as the group rolled out of the town of Moro Bay, Rollin pulled through and no one came around. The Canadian flashed a glance back to his companions and upped the tempo.

“I think I got impatient. I had enough being out there, riding in the group,” he said. “With 40km to go I knew I was one of the strongest in the group.”

Indeed, before the race began Rollin’s Toyota-United teammates knew that the 2006 Canadian national road champ was likely one of the strongest riders at the 2008 Tour of California. In 2007, riding for Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada, Rollin turned heads by finishing third in the Tour of Missouri, only two minutes down on the winner, Hincapie. The Canadian showed up to Toyota-United’s team’s training camp in Solvang and quickly turned heads with his power. But at only 25, many saw him as a wild card.

“We call him the ‘Horse from the North’ because he’s all muscle. He’s all power and his numbers are really phenomenal,” said Toyota manager Scott Moninger. “We’ve been waiting to unleash him on this race, and today was perfectly suited for him. I was just trying to will him over that last roller.”

Hincapie, who saw his hopes at the GC erased on Wednesday’s climb-heavy third stage, hoped to take the victory for his High Road squad, which is based in San Luis Obispo. But the Canadian, he admitted, was simply too strong for him and Camano to bring back.

“When he went I didn’t realize how tired everyone was,” Hincapie said. “I thought we would catch him but he kept going strong.”

Camano, formerly with the Euskaltel-Euskadi squad, said the inclement weather and challenging conditions upped the level of suffering for the long stage. Like many of his European peers, the Spaniard admitted the cold and rain threw him for a loop.

“This was not what we expected coming to California,” he said. “I am ready to get warm now and start a new tomorrow.”