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TOC Retrospective (supersized)
images by Nick Salazar
Jul 7, 2011  hits 57,713

With the Tour de France in full swing, it's hard to remember what happened earlier this year. But as we're wont to do on occasion, we're bringing you a retrospective. This time, we're going back to the Time Trial of the Tour of California in May, where top UCI riders raced against the clock at the storied Solvang TT course. For the first time in the race's history, Levi Heipheimer did not win the day, but rather came in second behind American Dave Zabriskie. Like last year, the Amgen Tour organizers held an Amateur TT on the same course before the UCI pros went off, and those "amateurs" included pro triathletes Heather Jackson and Jordan Rapp. Enjoy our superized gallery of the day's exploits.



Tags » shiv,  specialized,  speedconcept,  supersized,  tourofcali
  • Changing of the guard: Levi Leipheimer warms up with Chris Horner. On the left, a three-time winner of the ToC. On the right, his teammate, and the overall winner of this year's edition of the race. You can see here how low Levi is compared to Horner. His small size helps make him so aero, and so fast in the TTs.
  • Another changing of the guard - when George Hincapie started his racing career, Taylor Phinney was in diapers. Now they're on the same team, racing together.
  • Both men wear stars and stripes - Phinney on his TT kit, and George on his road sleeves as a former Road champ.
  • Triathlon pro Jordan Rapp took to the course on his Specialized Shiv and Zoot skinsuit.
  • Jordan looked great on the Shiv.
  • Pro Heather Jackson had her own follow car during her TT effort.
  • Jackson rides a size Small Trek Speed Concept with custom extension hardware to get as low as she needs to be.
  • Specialized had two teams at the Tour of California on Shivs, including Saxo Bank-Sungard and HTC-Highroad.
  • Some riders were on the new XS size, which has the same stack as all other Shiv sizes, but a shorter reach and a dropped toptube.
  • HTC-Highroad's Shivs had custom front-end hardware to allow them to use their sponsored PRO aerobars. It also enabled some very slick, hidden Di2 routing that left no cables exposed. WANT.
  • Dave Zabriskie stole the show, claiming the TT victory aboard his Cervelo P4.
  • Big George Hincapie always turns in a respectable TT.
  • Like most Giro-sponsored Pros (or Bell-sponsored ones), Hincapie was on the new Selector helmet, rebadged to say Bell.
  • Teejay Vangarderen put in an awesome third-place showing behind Zabriskie and Leipheimer.
  • Andy Schleck also had a good ride aboard his Speed Concept.
  • Levi Leipheimer on his way to a second-place finish on the day. This was the first time that he didn't win the Solvang TT.
  • Leipheimer rode a custom Selector helmet with a one-off gold mirror lens. Wish this was available!
  • Chris Horner had quite an entourage behind him, starting last in the yellow jersey.
  • It almost looks like the yellow skinsuit is too big for him.
  • Horner rode a standard Bontrager bar with steerer stub instead of the new UCI version of the Speed Concept's integrated aerobar. Maybe they didn't have enough of them ready for him?
  • Taylor Phinney's kit looked amazing - stars and stripes everywhere for the UCI TT champ. Unfortunately, this was one of Phinney's last outings in the honorary colors, as he lost the title to Dave Zabriskie a week later.
  • Phinney rides a considerable amount of stack even though his position is low, and the BMC custom stem gets him there.
  • The scenery on the day was pretty sweet. Pastures, cattle, and insanely high-tech bikes. Thanks for looking!

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