TOC & TP

Leipheimer drove the train on the descent as Nibali caught and dropped Barredo. McCartney was having trouble matching the Astana captain’s pace through the mist — he fell back once, twice, and for good as the road briefly tipped upward once more before resuming its downhill plunge. But Peterson hung tough and was right on Leipheimer's wheel as the two closed in on the finish in Santa Cruz.

“I just sat on his wheel,” Peterson said. “Basically the whole way to the finish was pretty easy because I was on his wheel.”

Leipheimer wasn’t concerned. “I understand his position,” Leipheimer said. “He’s down on the GC. Zabriskie being the leader was behind. You can understand him not working. That’s just how cycling goes. He made it to the top, he made it with me where others did not. In a matter of respect you could say he deserves the win. You could say I deserve it as well, but that’s just how it goes. No hard feelings.”

Behind, a 20-man chase had formed up, strung out in a long line and closing fast. But race leader Mancebo was not with them, and with 1km to go Leipheimer was still at the front, intent on taking time.

When Peterson came around him for the stage win in 5:06:21, Leipheimer didn’t bother to react. He had bigger fish to fry.

So, the kid used to be on Recycled Cycles and his brother still is. Today we got the shameless plug in on Cycling News:

15:26 PST
The riders are passing a huge dam. Meanwhile one of our readers, Robert, has written in to give a shout out to Garmin's Tom Peterson, who came up the ranks through the Recycled Cycles program as a junior in Seattle. He showed early signs of his potential talent with a win at US Junior Nationals in Park City in 2004.