Tour of California Prologue

Love/hate with VS. continues - thanks for the much-improved coverage over last year, but an hour of pre-game was a bit much. They could have at least thrown in Basso and the other early guys between features. I still can't get it in my head that Basso is a Disco boy now, even after all the pictures and stories from camp. Today's five seconds didn't help, maybe tomorrow will.

Likewise with Levi - even when I'm reading about him at The Paceline, I have to remind myself he's on their team again. But today did help on that score - what a win! He hasn't always pulled it off in the past, but today he looked the part of a true champion - they find a way to win, even if it's by the slimmest of margins, they find a way. Even more impressive after hearing about the wind shift against the later starters.

Phil and Paul are the best in the business, no doubt, but they went rather overboard on the shock and dismay that the top TT guys weren't ripping it up - with that climb at the end, was it really a surprise? Taking nothing away from Levi's tremendous effort, there's simple math in the result - he had the magic combo of the day - a top pro's heart and mind, and a tiny body to carry up the climb. Makes sense to me.