The 2008 Amgen Tour of California kicks off

Sun February 17 2008
Posted Feb 17, 2008
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Sunday February 17th 2008 The multi-stage 2008 Amgen Tour of California kicked off today with a short, but intense, individual time trial of just more than two miles. The flat and fast route will likely take each individual cyclist less than five minutes to finish. Although it is short, the Prologue, sponsored by CSC, will be packed with excitement and high speed. The Stanford Oval will give spectators the chance to see the riders complete a full 360-degree loop before they head to the finish line at the intersection of Palm Dr. and Museum Way on the Stanford University campus. Standings Cancellara Takes Prologue Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland rode to a nearly five-second victory Sunday over Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain in the prologue of the Amgen Tour of California. Cancellara, who won the 2007 prologue of the Tour de France, completed the 2.05-mile course that finished at Stanford University in 3 minutes and 51.2 seconds. Cancellera, whose opening-day win at the Tour de France allowed him to hold the lead for the first week, was 129th rider in the field of 132 Tour of California riders to individually ride the flat course. Watch the rest of the race coverage on VERSUS