SOLVANG, CALIF. — Cycling experts call the time trial "the race of truth."
It is the day when a cyclist has no other wheel in front of him to follow as incentive, no rider behind him to push him forward with whatever emotion -- fear or anger or just plain old competitiveness -- and no teammates beside him to say, "Keep up, we need you."
During a time trial, veteran George Hincapie of the Columbia-Highroad team said, "The ones who succeed, they embrace the pain. It's all you."
Today in Solvang, on a course that has sharp curves to entice a greedy rider into a fall, rolling hills that play havoc with the hamstrings and straightaways where a rider will want to just ride as fast as he can but be in danger of outracing his stamina, the Amgen Tour of California will have a 15-mile time trial that is expected to either cement the overall lead of Levi Leipheimer or throw the race wide open going into the final two stages.
Four of the best time trialists in the world stand in the top four places -- Leipheimer, Michael Rogers, David Zabriskie and Lance Armstrong -- and 30 seconds separate first from fourth.
Allan Piper, team director for Columbia-Highroad, said this course offers a little bit of everything. "Flat stretches for the sprinters, hills for the climbers, corners for the technicians," he said. "The winner will be fair. You can't hide from this course."
In today's time trial, riders go off one by one in reverse order of where they stand overall.
So the leaders go last, racing only against the course and the clock. Because there is no team help to corral a faster racer or help with a flat tire or protect a leader from the elements, the time trial is the stage in which significant seconds can be gained in the standings.
And the potential drama of this time trial wasn't lessened by the results of Thursday's Stage 5, at 134.5 miles the longest of the race.
For the second day in a row, Mark Cavendish of Columbia-Highroad outsprinted Quick Step's Tom Boonen for the win. Leipheimer retained his 24-second lead over Columbia-Highroad's Rogers with Zabriskie of Garmin-Slipstream third, 28 seconds out and Armstrong in fourth, 30 seconds behind his Astana teammate.
Looking ahead to the time trial, Leipheimer had a succinct prediction. "You can't have a bad day," he said.
