After two flat stages we get back to the hills,
where Lofkvist has to defend his yellow jersey.



The traditional morning breakaway.



David De la Cruz is 1st up the 1st climb.



Johan Vansummeren doesn't want to lose his KoM jersey,
and attacks after the breakaway.



Everyone challenges for the KoM points,
except EA-Sony rider Philip Deignan.



Only Tristan Valentin is interested at the sprint point.



Deignan attacks when we reach the start of the
major middle climb on today's route.



Cruz is the only breakaway man to keep up with Deignan.



And he leads over the climb, giving him the KoM jersey for tomorrow.



On the downhill section the peloton has gotten rid of the sprinters.



A short rise in the road gives Peraud a chance to attack.



20kms to go and Peraud joins Deignan and the morning breakaway.



Contador and Frank Schleck put in a downhill attack.



No way we were going to let them go, Van Garderen brings them back.



Peraud is the last man out front with 8kms to go,
however he only has a minute lead.



The climb to the finish starts, Peraud better not look over his shoulder.



Otherwise that will happen, Peraud is caught with 3400 meters to the finish.



His capture leads to a Contador attack.



Conta is in a league of his own.
Horner, Kanstantsin Siutsou, and Andy Schleck try to reach him.



1km to go.



It's just not fair,
Alberto Contador proves why he is a multi Grand Tour Champion.



It's a mad dash to save time in the groups behind.
In the end Lofkvist will lose yellow,
and perhaps his chance to win the tour.

Stage

GC

Contador comes in as the new leader,
will he grow or lose some of his lead today?



Tejay Van Garderen tries to start a morning breakaway,
but no one follows him so he drops back.



After waiting a few kilometers Van Garderen finds some partners to work with.



But Saxo Bank doesn't like this group and brings them back,
setting up Lofkvist to get 6 bonus seconds at the sprint point.



Brice Feillu controls the peloton over the first climb.



And the race continues this way without a breakaway for quite some time.
I guess the riders just like the easy riding next to the coast.



Or the fact when riders do attack,
they are getting pulled back right away.
So they is really no point of wasting your energy to attack.



So as we head to the next climb a few riders fight to for the points.



These riders continue to the next climb just a few kilometers later,
and have opened up a gap. Feillu represents EA-Sony finally in the BOTD.



They pull out a 8 minute lead in just the time it takes to get to the sprint point.



With 50kms to go, the lead is 10 minutes!



On today's last climb you can see Feillu struggling to keep up.
Back in the peloton Saxo have but the lead to 7 minutes,
is it to late?



20kms to go, the peloton pulls back Evan Oliphant,
who never could catch the other breakaway riders,
and spent his whole day riding solo.



Lofkvist tries an attack with 16kms to go.
Saxo Bank is down to just a few men for Contador.



Contador won't count on his teammates for this catch. He goes after Lofkvist himself, Peraud and Van Garderen attempt to counter. Talansky sits in the peloton taking his chances that everyone will get pulled back for a bunch sprint.



10kms to go, and an elite group of 4
have a 30 second lead in front of the peloton.
Lofkvist, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Chris Horner, and Samuel Dumoulin.
No Contador!



Spoke to soon ... Contador drags everyone back together.
And now the breakaway is in sight.



Peraud still has something left in his tank. Frank Schleck is on his wheel.



AHHH, Come on!
Contador brings everyone back together for a bunch sprint finish.



And look at that ... Contador takes back to back wins in California.
A lot of the American spectators surely don't like that.
Hopefully EA-Sony can cheer them back up
before the end of the tour.

Stage

GC

Contador looks in full control after 5 stages,
however this 23km ITT should shake out the rest of standings.



Canadian Svein Tuft posts the first reasonable time of 33'48".



That doesn't long though as Steven Cozza puts the
red, white, and blue on top of the leaderboard with a time of 33'01".



Peter Velits destroys Cozza's time at the first checkmark,
but can't finish off the job and slides into professional 2nd,
6 seconds behind.



Robert Partridge does the same as Velits,
20+ seconds ahead at the checkpoint but is 4 seconds behind at the finish.
Cozza really stepped it up during the second half of the course.



Fellow American Tom Danielson gives Cozza a run for his money,
but he too comes up short by just 2 seconds.



Edvald Boasson Hagen can't even knock off Cozza ... 8 seconds slower.



Then finally it takes the ITT master Fabian Cancellara to end Cozza's reign.
Spartacus beats our American by an overwhelming 47 seconds!
Now that is going to be tough to beat.



Soon after Fabian goes through both
Janez Brajkovic and Nicolas Vogondy surpass Cozza's time.



Aussie Richie Porte has a good ride and moves into 2nd,
25 seconds slower than Cancellara.



Future superstar Tejay Van Garderen with an ok time,
55 seconds behind the leader.



Andreas Klöden now moves into 2nd beating Porte by 2 seconds.



Then Bradley Wiggins beats Kloden and comes just
7 seconds short of overtaking Cancellara.



Our frenchman Peraud shocks everyone in the team bus
when he comes in with the same time as Wiggins!



Andrew Talansky can't match Peraud but does have a nice ride
just 40 seconds behind still leader Fabian Cancellara.



Even Levi Leipheimer can't use the home fans to beat Spartacus,
11 seconds to slow.



Frank and Andy Schleck couldn't avoid this day forever.
They both lose a ton of time.



This year's surprise rider Kanstantsin Siutsou continues
his good fortune just 29 seconds off the pace.



We are down to crunch time now, Chris Horner has the same luck as teammate Leipheimer, not fast enough. Just two riders left to finish.



Thomas Löfkvist may not have beaten Cancellara,
but does post a time good enough to keep 2nd overall.



Then lastly the man in yellow, Alberto Contador.
Fabian might want to close his eyes because
Contador wins his third stage in a row!
Want can't this man do?

Stage

GC

Contador has won 3 stages in a row, can he be stopped?



Saxo Bank out front putting down the pedals for Contador.



Brice Feillu attacks exactly 100kms from the finish.



And collects the points on top of the morning climb.



He is joined by Samuel Dumoulin.
These two men work together for most of the day.



Back in the peloton as he start the final climb,
Tom Danielson creates a chain reaction of attacks.
Van Garderen, Sutherland, and Kanstantsin Siutsou are the men that follow.



Saxo Bank doesn't seemed worried and lets them go.



Peraud doesn't want to miss his chance.



At the KoM checkpoint, Danielson has caught and passed Feillu and Dumoulin. And dropped his followers in the process.



Contador's helpers have everyone in sight with 16kms to go.



Then a major split, Lofkvist is caught out.



Lofkvist isn't going to make it back, Danielson is the last man standing with 6kms to go.



The struggle now is not to lose too much time,
Bradley Wiggins also drops off the front group to join Lofkvist.



Then the race gets totally blown open when the Schleck brothers
and Contador bridge the gap to Danielson.



Then Conta attacks, the Schlecks look at
each other like who is going to chase him down.



1km to go, Chris Horner joins the Schlecks. Can they catch Contador?



Nope, Alberto Contador wins his 4th straight stage. Unbeatable ...



Andy 2nd, Horner 3rd, and Frank 4th.



2 minutes later Tom Danielson 5th, Jean-Christophe Peraud 6th,
Simon Spilak 7th, Andrew Talansky 8th, Kanstantsin Siutsou 9th,
and Andreas Klöden rounds out the top 10.



4 minutes later it's Lofkvist in 11th.
This causes a major shake up in GC with 1 flat stage remaining tomorrow.

Stage

GC

Stage 8



Joaquim Rodriguez outsprints the sprinters.

Stage 9



Joaquim Rodriguez outclimbs the climbers. Nibali keeps pink.

Stage 10



Tyler Farrar gets his 3rd stage win, clearly the best sprinter.

Stage 11



Diego Ulissi breaks away solo and wins by over 10 minutes.
Marzio Bruseghin becomes the new overall leader.

Stage 12



Vicente Reynes wins on a breakaway,
Tyler Farrar loses a chance for another win.

Stage 13



Vincenzo Nibali uses the mountains to his advantage for a stage win,
and cuts into Marzio Bruseghin overall lead.

Stage 14



Crazy slopes give breakaway man Dario Cataldo the stage win,
but more importantly gives Vincenzo Nibali pink.

The final stage of a Contador dominated Tour of California.



Early attempts at a morning breakaway.



Eventually a large group of 14 are allowed away.



But none pose a threat to Brice Fiellu and his mountain jersey,
so Fiellu has no need to join them.



And eventually everyone is caught for a bunch sprint, pretty boring day.



The left train features Cavendish and his HTC boys,
while the right is a mixed bag of riders including Hushovd and Talansky.



Hushovd kicks early trying to catch Cav offguard.



And it works, The God of Thunder takes the final stage. Talansky finishes 8th.

Stage