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Excluded from such races as the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, Team Astana is adjusting its European calendar to make the best of a bad situation. Instead of defending Alberto Contador’s title at Paris-Nice in March, the beleaguered team is bringing an all-star cast to the otherwise-modest Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia (March 4-8) in Spain as part of a major reshuffling of its racing schedule.

Levi warming up @ TOC

Jens Voigt gives his usual maximum effort.

Jens Voight with his usual maximum effort.

Jens Voight with his usual maximum effort.

A Toyota rider on a very scenic course.

Ed Dailey gives his moto drivers the final instructions before the prologue.

Tim Johnson puts in the final effort.

Big crowds on the course below Hoover Tower on the Stanford campus.

Graham Watson was in Palo Alto on Sunday as the 2008 Amgen Tour of California got rolling with the prologue time trial. Here's a sampler of what he saw through the lens.

A couple locals

(Palo Alto, CA) – Speaking at a press conference on the eve of this year’s Tour of California Prologue, defending Tour of California champion and 2007 Tour de France podium finisher Levi Leipheimer unveiled LetLeviRide.com, a grassroots campaign to appeal the Amaury Sport Organization’s (ASO) recent decision to ban Leipheimer’s team, Astana, from participating in this summer’s Tour de France. Visitors to LetLeviRide.com have an opportunity to pledge their support for Levi and add their name to a petition directed at the ASO.

Wiggins put his track speed to use on the power course.

Hincapie was a crowd favorite in his new team kit

Farrar (Slipstream-Chipotle) was third on the day.

Cancellera took a commanding win in Sunday's Amgen Tour of California prologue.

What more fitting an opening to the Tour of California than the best racers in the world flying down asphalt between rows of palm trees, and who a more fitting winner than current world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC)? The Swiss rider turned a time of 3:51.211 to handily beat second-place rider Bradley Wiggins (High Road) by four seconds over the 2.1-mile course. “With my beautiful rainbow jersey, to win here in Palo Alto, it is really good,” Cancellara said.

World champion Paolo Bettini signs autographs before the start of the Prologue

Kelly Benefits rider Kevin Lacombe speeds past the famed Palo Alto Bicycles.

Astana’s Sergey Ivanov

Rock Racing’s Michael Creed

Australian national TT champion Adam Hansen (Team Highroad)

Look out, Bradley Wiggins, Mike Sinyard’s riding the Tour of California. In addition to riding the celebrity prologue, Sinyard and a few friends will be riding the Tour course, from Thursday’s stage on. This means an early departure, but some quality miles for Specialized’s founder.

Shimano was promoting its Coast cruiser bike technology at the prologue.

Shimano wasn’t taking any chances, however, and used an, um, aero helmet for its rider.

This isn’t a Photoshop trick. Before the pros rolled out, a celebrity round of time trials was held on the course.

Like the frames and saddles, Rock’s wheels are also branded

The shoe covers aren’t Rock Racing issue. “Hey, that’s how I rock ’em,” Creed said.

Rock Racing rider Mike Creed and team mechanic John Sessa hustled to get a borrowed time trial bike together before Creed’s start.

High Road is running a combination of Hed, Shimano and Zipp wheels

The down tube and bottom bracket area are massive for enhanced aerodynamics and power transfer.

A side view of the custom bar/stem, with its massive aero stem.

Note the spacers under the arm pads for adjustable height.

High Road manager Bob Stapleton said Wiggins’ handlebar/stem was made outside of the bike industry, but wouldn’t say where.

Most notably, Wiggins’ custom handlebars are similar to a pursuit set-up

The bike of a likely winner of the third Amgen Tour of California prologue. World and Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins’ time trial machine is similar in some ways to a track bike.

Jennie Reed and the Madison team of Colby Pearce and Bobby Lea turned in a pair of silver-medal performances on Sunday as the Copenhagen Track World Cup concluded in Denmark. That raised the final U.S. medal count to five.

The Specialized Miura glasses will be seen on the faces of Toyota-United riders during the Tour of California.

Fulcrum's RedCarbon wheels are carbon mountain clinchers.

Shimano's new WH-7850-C24-TL wheel features a carbon-wrapped tubeless rim.

Shimano new WH-M778 (XT) wheel uses the new 15mm axle design.

Shimano's 2009 SLX group

The TCR's toptube is perforated for rear brake cable routing.

High Road’s new Giant prototype TCR (or, as the seattube states: TCR Advanced SL Team).

Things were back to normal for Sunday’s finale of the Giro della Provincia di Grosseto following Saturday’s rider protest when the peloton refused to contest in what they called a dangerous finish. There was no strike Sunday as Danilo Napolitano (Lampre) grabbed his second win of the 2008 season, out-sprinting Mattia Gavazzi (Preti Mangimi-Prisma Stufe) with Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) crossing the line third. Pozzato, winner of the opening stage, claims the overall in the new three-day stage race.

Russian veteran Alexandre Botcharov (Crédit Agricole) secured his first stage-race victory of his career Sunday while French attacker Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) claimed the finale in the 35th Tour Mediterranean. Chavanel — who saw his 2007 season short-circuited when he was among the casualties on the Kemmelberg melee in Ghent-Wevelgem last April, which left him with 65 stitches and a triple-fractured wrist — looks back in good form with a solid win ahead of three fellow escapees.

It’s called the Ruta del Sol – the Race of the Sun – but rain was one of the main protagonists in the opening stage of the Vuelta Ciclista a Andalucía, which saw Tour de France favorite Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) kick start his season. Despite the presence of big-time sprinters such as Alessandro Petacchi (Milram), two relatively unknown riders chugged away from the peloton in the early going of the rainy 123.4km stage from Benahavis to Alora across the hills near Malaga.