SCVTV.com | 5/15/2011 Amgen Tour of California: Stage 1 Recap

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Amgen Tour of California

Stage 1 Recap
May 15, 2011

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Statement from Jim Birrell, Race Director, 2011 Amgen Tour of California, on the cancelation of Stage 1:
    Rider safety has been, and continues to be, our number one priority. When we got to the window where we had to make a decision to race or not to race, we took the information from our course director and technical director, who had been out since early in the morning and tracking the different areas of the route, into consideration and we had indications that it was not safe to race. We had a lot of great intel coming from the field. After carefully watching the forecast, it was up to our team to discuss canceling the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California.
    We started to receive reports from our team about bad weather on the descents, with the final decent being the most critical. After two and a half hours of riding in inclement weather the cyclists are tired and cold and they don't have the ability to apply their breaks, especially with the carbon bikes. These are elements they have to deal with. The rain really helped us cement our decision. Had the race started, we would have had to cancel the race in the middle.
    Rider safety and public safety is our first priority, and we feel that we made the right decision. We had the right resources, intel and experience to form a decision, and it was right.
    We received full support that we did the right thing for both rider and public safety. It's not the right environment for these professional cyclists to put their life on the line. The decision was made, and we made the right one. It wasn't easy — this is the first time in my 25 years of experience that we had to cancel a stage — but it was the right thing to do.
    (...)We chose the west shore of Lake Tahoe because, in an ideal world, you look at the lake and our broadcast coverage would have been able to include Emerald Bay, and the decent into Northstar would paint an incredible view of Tahoe.

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