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San Luis Obispo, Calif. (February 23, 2005) - Today's 130-mile stage was the longest of the Amgen Tour of California, and Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada earned its highest stage finish thus far, as Jackson Stewart placed 8th in a bunch sprint won by Juan Jose Haedo (Toyota-United).
Although the course followed Highway 1 south from Monterey's Cannery Row to San Luis Obispo for all but the last two miles, the riders had little chance to admire the breathtaking coastline as the ProTour teams began launching attacks from the gun.
As the field approached the two KOM lines at the 68 and 72 mile marks, a group of 11 riders went clear and looked as though it would stick, until Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto) bridged a 45" gap to join the leaders. At that point, Phonak was forced to chase, since Horner was only 2'17" behind Landis in the overall standings.
As the road dropped down to the water's edge and flattened out, the sprinters' teams pushed the pace, eventually sweeping up breakaway holdouts Glen Chadwick (Navigators Insurance) and Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel).
Setting up for the finish, Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada had four riders in the lead group - Stewart, Ben Jacques-Maynes, Dominique Perras, and Scott Zwizanski.
Despite being the fastest finisher of the four, Stewart was unsure of how his legs would hold up after 130 miles of racing, and hesitated to put his teammates at his disposal.
"I was really aggressive early on and I paid for it," he related. "I was in a few early breaks and it took a lot out of me, and there were times that I though I might not make it to the finish. So when we got towards the end, I didn't want to make the guys work for me but I wanted to see what I could do."
After coming out of the last corner, Stewart passed four riders in the final 200m and was eighth across the line, earning his best ever finish in an international race of this caliber.
"I've been 12th a couple times at the Tour de Georgia, but to get in the top 10 here, especially in a stage this long, is something I'm really proud of," he added.
Ben Jacques-Maynes finished safe and sound in 13th place, despite reports that he had abandoned the race after a fall in the first few miles. The San Jose rider also moved up one spot to 27th overall.
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