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“Realizing the importance of the case, my men are rounding up twice the usual number of suspects.” —Inspector Renault, “Casablanca”

Season's Prologue: Saddles this white can mean one thing — the beginning of the season. Colavita-Sutter Home mechanics were working feverishly to assemble road and time trial bikes ahead of the race.

Season's prologue: Floyd Landis wasn’t the only one to hit the deck before the race. Cervélo TestTeam’s Ted King slipped out on a wet bike path the day before the prologue. Now he’s rocking a bandage on his chin. “A fashion statement,” he said. “Soon all the kids will be doing it.”

Season's Prologue: IanMcGregor of Team Type 1 sports the Valentine’s Day lid. Like many riders at this race, McGregor was on a new time trial bike. How new? He’s never ridden it once prior to the 3.9km prologue.

ProTour squad or no, Ag2r riders aren’t necessarily on the latest and greatest right out of the season’s gate. Alas, some riders have to settle for Campagnolo Record 10 speed.

Ag2r is likely the only team on FSA brakes at the Amgen Tour of California. Being a French squad, they run Mavic wheels and Michelin rubber.

Ag2r is on BH bikes.

BH in California. Ag2r’s star Cyrl Dessel is here with his team, which finished second in the team classification at the 2008 Tour de France.

Ivan Basso warming up for the prologue. On his iPod? Tiziano Ferro.

Riders weren’t the only ones going full gas the day of the prologue. Mechanics from all teams also put in strong efforts to assemble fleets of TT and road bikes, in the days and even hours leading up to the race’s kick-off. We’re not just talking fine-tuning, either, but in many cases all-out assembly. Steerer tubes were cut, components installed and tires mounted. And the pro wrenches weren’t too shy to use zip ties and electrical tape when the situation called for it.

Police in Sacramento are investigating the theft of four Team Astana bikes, including Lance Armstrong's time trial bike, from behind a team hotel overnight. Sacramento Police Department spokesman Konrad Von Schoech told the Sacramento Bee newspaper the bikes were stolen from an unmarked truck that was parked in an alley behind a hotel overnight. Von Schoech said it wasn't clear whether the thieves were targeting Amstrong. "We don't have any information that would indicate they specially went after his bike," he told the newspaper.

The first road stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California will take riders from the cycling crazy college town of Davis west into Santa Rosa, home of two-time race champion Levi Leipheimer. While there are three categorized climbs on this 107.6-mile stage, it still appears to be one for the sprinters. [nid:87869] The two main obstacles for the fast-twitch finishers will be the Howell Mt. Road climb, which tops out at about 1,800 feet and comes at mile 60, and the Petrified Forest Road climb, which is much shorter — only about 600 feet of elevation gain — and comes at mile 82.

In some ways, Saturday’s prologue at the Amgen Tour of California went according to script. Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara crushed all comers, powering around the flat course like a motorbike, just as he did last year.

The opening prologue at the Ruta de Sol was a win for the little guys against the big guns. With such marquee names as Cadel Evans and Thomas Dekker (Silence-Lotto), Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Gilberto Simoni (Diquigiovanni) debuting their respective 2009 campaigns, it was unsung rider Xavier Tondo who came up big in Sunday’s 7.2km opening prologue for his locally sponsored Andalucía-CajaSur team. Tondo was a bundle of nerves when he crossed the line after posting the fastest time of 8 minutes, 31 seconds, knocking Joost Posthuma (Rabobank) out of the hot seat by a half-second.

Colombia's Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez (Diquigiovanni-Androni) won the 14th Tour de Langkawi Sunday, which ended with a criterium in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur. Serpa Perez, of the Diquigiovanni-Androni team, completed the seven-day, 1031.7km stage race with an overall time of 24:22:12. Australian Jai Crawford, representing his country's national team, took second, 27 seconds back. "I've never been an overall winner before this, as I never get to break away, said Serpa. “I'm really happy with the win. This year all my teammates have been a real help."

Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy has pulled out of racing the final day of the World Cup track meet in Copenhagen after a dramatic crash in the final of the men's keirin on Saturday. Hoy was the hero for Britain at last year's Olympics where he won three gold medals in the sprint, keirin and team sprint and in just over a month's time he will aim to defend his three world titles in those events at Pruskow, Poland. But in his first competition since Beijing the Scot was sent flying after making contact with Frenchman Kevin Sireau, who went on to win the race, in the chaotic keirin event.

Fabian Cancellara of Team Saxo Bank continued his winning ways by adding yet another impressive time trial victory today at the Tour of California prologue. His teammate, Gustav Larsson, placed 38th with a time of 4:45.

Racers at Saturday's Landis Cyclery road stage at the Valley of the Sun stage race were greeted with sunshine, a moderate breeze and temperatures in the 60's. The stage, run on a 16-mile loop in the desert near Casa Grande, south of Phoenix, was largely flat with a moderate, big ring climb to the finish line. The men raced 89 miles and the women completed 57.