Well, well, well....just when we were about to begin celebrating the changing of the guard at the Amgen Tour of California, the second-oldest rider in the Peloton, Chris Horner, gave the cycling community a reminder that the experience that comes with age cannot be underestimated.
Horner, 39, absolutely blew the Peloton away on the last third of the climb up Sierra Road today, in Stage 4 of the race, to take the win in convincing fashion.
Although Horner confirmed at the press conference following the stage that he was and is working for Levi Leipheimer, three time ToC champion, he commented that the two riders had agreed that whoever had the stronger legs would try to take the win at the top of Sierra. Obviously, that was Horner who ended up with the yellow jersey at the end of the day. No doubt Horner's 16-years of pro-cycling experience made a big difference today as he was tactically perfect.
Andy Schleck, last year's Tour de France runner-up, (see our earlier post "Andy's Dilemma") jetted to a second place stage finish, and Leipheimer finished fourth. Horner is now the overall GC leader by 1'15", with Leipheimer in second place.
Speaking of dilemma's, despite Horner's insistence that Leipheimer is their GC contender, Team Radio Shack now needs to decide if they might want to change that allegiance for the last half of this race. Or, perhaps Radio Shack will let Friday's time trial in Solveng make the decision for them. Either way, at this point they've got a 1-2 punch going.
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