Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) won the individual time trial on stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California, rounding the 29.7km course around Bakersfield in 35:59.  Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) finished in 2nd place, 23 seconds down.  Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) finished 3rd, 34 seconds down from Zabriskie.  Zabriskie now leads in the GC, 34 seconds ahead of Van Garderen, and 39 ahead of Robert Gesink (Rabobank).

Photos from SteepHill.

Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol) took a solo win on stage 12 of the Giro, successfully attacking away from his breakaway – Sandy Casar (FDJ-BigMat) and Andrey Amador (Movistar) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Bak, Casar, Ivan Santaromita (BMC), Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan), Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Amador, Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) formed the day’s break, 50km into the 155km race.  50km from the finish line in Sestri Levante, the break had a 5:30 lead over the peloton.  10km later, their lead was at 6:30 – the gap topped out a 7 minutes as the break approached the Valico La Mola.  Liquigas-Cannondale reduced the gap to 4:10, but it climbed back up to 5 minutes.  Golas rode off the front of the breakaway, attempting to ride the rest of the way to the line alone – he gained 25 seconds over the break, but was caught by them 2km from the top of the final categorized climb.  Amador attacked off the front, but was countered by Casar and Santaromita – the 3 riders regrouped on the descent, pushing their lead to 4 minutes over the peloton, 10km to the line.  Bakelants, Txurruka, and Bak bridged to the 3 riders up ahead, with Liquigas-Cannondale chasing from the peloton.  Bak placed his stage winning attack 1.5km to the line, and held his lead until the end.

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) continues to lead in the GC, 17 seconds ahead of Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin – Barracuda) and 26 seconds ahead of Casar.

Photos from SteepHill.

Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) took his 4th consecutive sprint victory on the Amgen Tour of California, winning ahead of Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda), again, Michael Matthews (Rabobank), and Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).

Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Yannick Eijssen (BMC) and Bradley White (UnitedHealthcare) were the first riders off the front of the peloton on the longest stage of the race, 209km from Sonora to Clovis.  The trio was caught before the climbing began – Sebastian Salas (Optum) was the next rider to try his luck, taking maximum points on Mocassir.  11 riders soon formed at the front of the race:Markel Irizar Aranburu and Ben King (RadioShack-Nissan), Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Yannick Eijssen (BMC, Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank), Alex Howes (Garmin-Barracuda), Timothy Duggan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Wesley Sulzberger (Orica GreenEdge), Mikael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale), Darwin Atapuma Hurtado and Carlos Julian Quintero (Colombia-Coldeportes).  The group opened up a 5:25 gap – they dropped Quintero along highway 49, and were reeled back to 1:20.  They were caught on the final climb of the day.  George Bennett (RadioShack-Nissan), Thomas Peterson (Garmin-Barracuda), Michael Rodriguez Galindo (Colombia-Coldeportes), Bram Tankink (Rabobank), Mikael Cherel (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Brian Vandborg (Spidertech p/b C10) opened up an attack but were caught on the long downhill by Liquigas-Cannondale.  Johnny Clarke (UnitedHealthcare) and David Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) placed individual attacks, but were unsuccessful on the run in to Clovis.

Sagan continues to lead in the GC, 16 seconds ahead of Haussler, and 34 seconds ahead of Jeffry Louder (UnitedHealthcare).

Photos from SteepHill.

Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli) won the sprint on stage 11 of the Giro, finishing ahead of Francesco Chicchi (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Tomas Vaitkus (GreenEdge), and Mark Cavendish (Sky).

Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol), Adrian Saez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Simone Ponzi (Astana), Stefan Denifl (Vacansoleil-DCM), Manuele Boaro (Saxo Bank) and Mickaël Delage (FDJ-BigMat) rode off the front of the peloton early on the 255km stage.  They built up a 5 minute lead over the peloton – Ponzi dropped back after the feed zone, letting the other 5 riders fend for themselves.  192km into the race, the first categorized climb came, the Poggio alla Croce.  The break increased their lead from 1:50 to 3:00, but Sky and Rabobank were quick to reel the riders back in, reducing their gap to 1 minute with 62km left to race.  30km left to race, the peloton was close to the break, which sparked an attack from Boaro.  Saez accelerated behind him while the other 3 riders were reeled back in.  Boaro built up a 30 second lead over Saez and had more than a minute over the chasing peloton.  Boaro and Saez were both caught shortly thereafter.  Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM) attacked on the category 4 Vico climb, but was unsuccessful.  Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Roman Kreuziger (Astana), Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), and a handful of others lead on the descent, but were also caught.  Alessandro Ballan (BMC) also placed an attack near the end, but he too was caught by Sky.  Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF Inox) slid out into barriers near the end, taking down several riders.

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) continues to lead in the GC, 17 seconds ahead of Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin – Barracuda), and 32 seconds ahead of Paolo Tiralongo (Astana).

Photos from SteepHill.