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Scott Nydam starts his long ride through the vineyards.

Miss Rose Petal, here to spread petals for the riders in Santa Rosa. Really.

David Millar checks on his charge, Tyler Ferrar, in the final laps.

Mavic mechanics get ready to spend a long day in the rain.

Levi with happy, wet fans in Santa Rosa.

Ferrar on the podium. Am I dreaming?

Old Disco teammates, Pena and Chechu.

VeloNews editor-in-chief Ben Delaney gets a few words with Steven Cozza.

And Cipo's reward, northern California chic.

Yeah, that's right. Its Levi and Cipo leading on the first climb, near the top no less.

Boonen closing in the finish, with Cipo.

Boonen stretches his legs on a climb.

Angel blows kisses to the peloton on the first circuit. Probably not to the photographer.

The podium: Heinrich Haussler, Boonen and Mario Cipollini.

The stage podium: 1. Tom Boonen, Heinrich Haussler and Mario Cipollini.

Tyler Farrar in the Tour of California yellow jersey.

Tom Boonen winning the field sprint in front of the California Capitol

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with Tom Boonen on the podium after stage 2.

Tom Boonen won the second stage of the 2008 Tour of California by waiting and timing his sprint perfectly.

Tom Boonen has now won stages of major races on three continents. The big Belgian blew past High Road’s Mark Cavendish to grab the stage 2 win of the Amgen Tour of California in a drizzly downtown Sacramento. Gerolsteiner’s Heinrich Haussler came second with the recently out-of-retirement Mario Cipollini showing he still can turn the pedals with a third-place performance.

The beleaguered Astana team – already excluded from the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France – received more bad news Tuesday after race organizers said the squad would not be invited at upcoming Italian races Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo. That means Andreas Klöden, one of Astana’s top riders, won’t be able to defend his victory from last year at Tirreno-Adriatico. Both High Road and Slipstream-Chipotle earned bids to the important Italian races organized by RCS Sport, which also operates the Giro as well as other Italian events.

Tom Boonen takes the second stage of the Tour of California.

With an available seat, Health Net-Maxxis team director Mike Tamayo offered VeloNews's Neal Rogers a spot in its Tour of California caravan vehicle for Tuesday’s wet stage from Santa Rosa to Sacramento. What follows is his account of a day riding with Tamayo and team mechanic Eva Barabas.

Alessandro Petacchi used all his wile to win a three-up sprint against younger Italian compatriots to win Tuesday’s 174.5km third stage from Otura to Jaén at the Vuelta a Andalucía-Ruta del Sol. The Milram sprinter had just enough in the tank to hold off Italian national champion Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) and Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval), who came through second and third, respectively.

Tim Johnson takes a feed

Frank Pipp takes booties and a thermal jacket

The soggy finish area of stage 2

Field at 5km from 2nd KOM

Nick Waite

Justin Spinelli

Kevin Lacombe

Andrew Bajadali

Alex Candelario

Reid Mumford

Santa Rosa is the hometown of famed cartoonist Charles A. Schulz.

Slipstream-Chipotle rider David Zabriskie on his way to stage 2 sign in.

High Road rider Kim Kirchen at the start of stage 2

Don’t drop that Pinarello Prince!

Specialized team bikes lined up outside the Quick Step-Innergetic team bus

The peloton moments before the start of stage 2

Levi Leipheimer (left) rolls out at the start of stage 2

Stage 2 of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California got underway in a light rain. Here are some scenes from the roadside by VeloNews publisher Andy Pemberton.

From the perspective of executives at Pearl Izumi, the company’s sale to Shimano American Corp., announced Tuesday, was a relief. Other potential buyers — mostly venture capitalists — were eyeing the Colorado-based clothing company like a house flipper eyes a fixer-upper: something to throw a new coat of paint on, then re-sell for a huge profit. Shimano officials, however, look at Pearl like a young family sees a home, with plans to move in for the long haul. At least that’s how Pearl officials see it.

Like most stage races, the overall at the Amgen Tour of California boils down to who can climb and time trial. With only a 2.1-mile prologue and a single Cat. 3 climb ridden thus far, the major players are already moving forward, indicating who has the suds for the 15-mile stage 5 time trial and the big climbs on stage 3.

IRVINE, Calif. USA 2/19/08 -- Bringing premium sports apparel and footwear to its offering of industry-leading cycling and fishing products, Shimano has completed its purchase of DashAmerica, Inc. (dba Pearl Izumi USA, Inc.) from Nautilus, Inc., announces David Pfeiffer, president of Shimano American Corporation. Pearl Izumi becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Shimano’s U.S. operations, and will continue to operate from its facilities in Broomfield, Colorado and Kirchzarten, Germany.

Riders won’t have it easy in the season’s first major stage race as Paris-Nice sees the return of the towering menace of Mont Ventoux for the first time in 20 years. Race officials unveiled details Tuesday of the 66th “Race to the Sun” with a few twists to a familiar pattern. Unchanged is the general route of the eight-day race, which opens with a short prologue south of Paris on March 9 and brushes up against the northern and eastern edges of the Massif Central and plunges across Provence until its traditional conclusion along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on March 16.

One more gear?
Dear Lennard,
We have a 27-mile climb just outside of town that I ride up occasionally. My problem is that I tend to spin out on my way back down and find it difficult to keep up with some of my riding partners. A friend of mine told me that I could swap my 10-speed Shimano cassette (12-25) for a SRAM (11-26), which would give me both a better climbing and descending gear. Although I understand 45MPH is plenty fast, is the swap compatible?
Brian Dear Brian,

Rock Racing’s Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla and Santiago Botero may have been denied a start at the Amgen Tour of California, but the trio — along with teammate and fellow non-starter Kayle Leogrande — have been a common sight along the race route and at the start and finish lines. And race leader Fabian Cancellara isn't too happy about that.

Despite a Spanish appeals court ruling last week to reopen the Operación Puerto case, don’t expect any major revelations to come out of the renewed investigation. A closer review of the court documents found that a panel of three Spanish judges refused to apply a new tough anti-doping law to the alleged blood doping ring and said evidence gathered in police raids dating back to May 2006 will not be handed over to the UCI.

George Hincapie after the Tour of California Prologue in Palo Alto

Little Fan at the Tour of CA Prologue 2008

JJ Jubilation - Stage 1 ToC

Arenberg 2007