Stage 2 Breakaway Photos

I finally got my race film back from processing. Though I'm not too pleased with the quality of the scans, here are some pictures of the three man breakaway group. I shot the all the images of the riders in less than 30 seconds; so they ought to give you a good sense of the speed of the tour.


Waiting for the Tour in Niles Canyon.


The Police clear the way.


Here comes the breakaway group.


Flanked by motorcycles and team cars.


Getting filmed as they go.


Coming though.


Drafting and working hard.


Passing by.


...and they're gone.

The three riders that you can see in my photos of the breakaway are, in order, Credit Agricole's Mads Kaggestad of Norway (green jersey), TIAA-CREF's Mike Creed of the USA (blue jersey), and San Jose native Ben Jacques-Maynes riding for team Kodak-Sierra Nevada.

Mike Creed broke away from the Peloton at the 10th mile. Kaggestad and Jacques-Maynes bridged the gap at 14 miles. By the time they blew by me (around the 45th mile) they had worked together to create a gap of almost 5 minutes from the peloton.

They were eventually caught by the peloton while climbing Sierra Road an hour later.