2008 Tour of California: AEG/Amgen Pre-Race Kickoff

The 2008 TOC kick off panel

Back row, from left to right: Rory Sutherland, Fred Rodriguez, Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Bobby Julich, Jens Voigt, Oscra Friere

Front row, from left to right: Jim Birrell, Phyllis Piano, Andy Messick, Bob Stapleton, Sean Petty, Phil Ligget, David Millar

Amgen, the title sponsor for the 2008 Tour of California, and AEG Sports, the organizer for the race, held an afternoon press conference today in Palo Alto at the Garden Court Hotel. Coming on the heels of the Rock Racing press conference, the TOC kickoff had a decidedly lighter atmosphere and significantly bigger crowd.

Rider's invited to the press conference were Rory Sutherland, Fred Rodriguez, wearing a Rock Racing baseball hat and dark sunglasses, defending champion Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie, Bobby Julich, Jens Voigt, Oscar Friere Gomez and David Millar.

The dignitaries lined-up to present the 2008 edition of the race were Phil Ligget, USA Cycling's Sean Petty, High Road boss Bob Stapleton, Andrew Messick, the CEO/Presient of AEG, Phyllis Piano, Amgen corporate communications head, and Jim Birrell, the race director for the Tour.

First up to speak was Andrew Messick, who took a moment to thank all involved and to explain a bit about the teams invited to the 2008 edition of the TOC. He revealed that for the first time in the history of the event, the organizers had to turn several teams away for the 2008 edition due to the enormous amount of applicants for the event. Messick also introduced the new women's criterium, to be held in Santa Rosa ahead of the men's race arriving in stage one.

Jim Birrell was next up, explaining the race details briefly to the crowd. New to the Tour for 2008 will be a flat prologue, instead of the hilly one that was included in past versions of the Tour. Hoping to keep the GC battle tight after the first day, a flat prologue will ensure razor-thin margins between many riders as the race heads out on the road for stage one. Also new for the 2008 edition will be a climb-heavy stage three. Mount Hamilton, at about 5000 feet elevation, will surely stretch the field as they head toward the fearsome Sierra Road climb. It is at this point that the true GC contenders should begin to show themselves, as the weaker riders will most certainly be dropped on the steep ramps of the climb. Also in contrast to last year will be the final stage of the event, which will feature a stiff climb during the final five circuits of the stage. Birrell thanked Kevin Livingston, the race competition director, for his efforts in bringing a first-class field to the race in 2008.

After hearing from Bob Stapleton, about his team High Road, Phil Ligget took a moment to put the quality of the field into perspective for the listeners in the audience. He explained that the race organization is "equal to or better than the Tour de France." Strong words from one of cycling's most in-the-know figures. He went further with the Tour de France analogy, explaining the "the prologue we have for the Tour of California is as good as the prologue for the Tour de France (last year) in London." Ligget's rider to watch for the prologue was Fabian Cancellera, who he thought could duplicate his performace from London in last year's Tour de France.

Ligget feels that the 2008 TOC field is equal in quality to the 2007 Tour de France line up

Finally, it was onto the riders and their opinion of the race. Rory Sutherland, last year's NRC champ, wasn't extremely happy with the prologue course as compared to last year, but qualified that he expected it "will be a spectacular day." Fred Rodriguez, looking Hollywood-ready in his dark glamour shades, was unintimidated by the quality field of sprinters assembled, saying "the more competition the better for me, because it opens it up. I think we have a great team, some top sprinters, and we'll do our best."

Rodriguez was glammed-out with his trendy Rock clothing and dark sunglasses

Oscar Frier was more reserved about his chances. "maybe I'm not in my best moment, but I will do my best for the race. I think we have a good team with good young riders, so it's important for the sponsor." Describing California, he replied with a curt "Nice" to describe the western state, to the delight of the crowd.

Jens Voigt expressed that he hoped CSC could "take one more step to the top of the podium," alluding to the fact that CSC has twice been runner-up in the event. As to his own form, he too was modest. "I guess it's pretty good, until I crashed the other day in training, so we'll see how it goes. But I have other colleagues on my team that can take over so they don't really need me to win." As to his thoughts on the race as a whole, he had nothing but positive feedback. "It's always a great race to do to start the season, big wide roads, which I always like . . . heaps of spectators . . . that's all you can ask for."

Finally, Levi Leipheimer was questioned on his thoughts about the ommision of the Coit Tower prologue course. He explained his initial reaction to the elimination of the climbing prologue course as "Damnit!" Agreeing with Rory Sutherland, he had hoped to see the Coit Tower stage included again, but felt the organizers made up for the change with additonal mountains for the lithe climber to power over. "I think the climbs of Mount Hamilton and Devil's Crest are a great new edition to the race and I look forward to those."

Old friends: Leipheimer and Hincapie said they would put aside their friendship during the race as each tries to help their team win

After the riders were finished speaking, the conference was opened up to question and answer from the audience. It took only one question for the happenings from the Rock Racing press conference two hours earlier to be brought up. Andrew Messick was first on the hot seat, as a member of the press asked him about Rock's Michael Ball planning on starting the three rider's (Botero, Sevilla and Hamilton) who were left off the event's official roster. Choosing his words very carefully, Messick stated "the only riders who will be allowed to start are the riders who are officially on the roster roster, and there is a process by which the riders are put on the roster. " Then, confirming wide-spread rumors from multiple outlets, he explained that "we benched quite a number of rules over the last 36 hours to allow the inclusion of Mario Cipollini. As of today, Rock Racing has five riders on their roster, and five riders will be allowed to start. Mike Ball and I went on a bike ride this morning, and spent about 45 minutes of the day talking about various issues related to cycling. And while we have an enourmous amount in common with respect to our passion for the sport, our hopes for the sport, I think its fair to say that we differ on a number of issues. And the specific nature of our disagreements will stay between Michael and I."

Messick was on the hot seat several times in reference to the Rock Racing roster

Clearly a hot issue for the press assembled, the matter was pressed moments later when a reporter explained "the three riders from Rock Racing were implicated in Operacion Puerto, but there is bit of a grey area (as to their guilt). Where was that decision made (to bar them from starting)?" Messick again chose his words carefully. "I'm going to answer that question, but as part of our agreement with the teams, we did agree to protect confidentiality. We have no interest in highlighting individuals. Our organization hasn't mentioned any riders that fell afoul of the rules the 17 teams agreed to. That said, I will reveal that USA cycling told us there were no riders who were currently under investigation. And all of the the riders who came back, and those names will remain nameless here, all of them came from the UCI. And in fact all of them are affiliated with Operacion Puerto."

Cipollini, here preparing his bike early Saturday morning, will in fact race in the 2008 TOC

Things began to get more intense when a reporter referenced a letter written to the Rock Racing team from Pat McQuaid back in February explaining that Oscar Sevilla was to be considered innocent until proven guilty, and should expect not to be banned from the TOC. Messick, fidgeting with a pen, in a tight voice stated that "what's important to understad about that letter is that it is absolutely irrelevant. An athlete being eligible to ride in UCI races has no bearing on what all 17 teams agreed to about the eligibility of riders for this race. It's different from UCI eligibility. The UCI agreed that they would tell us about any riders currently under investigation, and that is the criteria for this race."

Besides the Rock Racing controversy, the 2008 Tour of California kick off was a resounding success. Providing that they can avoid Michael Ball's wrath (which looks to be settled as Ball agreed to the exclusion of the three riders late in the afternoon Saturday), race organizers are assured of an excellent event