Since all of the cycling photographs might confuse some site visitors who are more familiar with my natural and urban landscapes, night photography, and so forth… a bit of explanation.
I used to be a very active cyclist. Although I never raced myself, I trained with folks who did, and I was a very serious cyclist. I put in multiple 10,000+ mile years during that period.
So the cycling stuff is “in my blood,” so to speak, and when the Amgen Tour of California comes to northern California each year I’m there to photograph as much of it as I can. I photographed it since the first year when it began with the time trial stage to the top of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.
This year my opportunities to photograph the event are more limited, and it is likely that I’ll only be able to shoot the first stage – from which the current images are taken. Rather than posting a whole batch of photographs at once, I prefer to share them one at a time. So over the next week or so expect to see a lot of bicycle racing photographs here!
Mark Renshaw leads out Mark Cavendish with J.J. Haedo in pursuit 200 meters from the finish line in Sacrmento – Stage One, 2010 Amgen Tour of California.
I shot this photograph at about the 200 meter mark near the finish of stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle stage race in Sacramento, California. While it is exciting to be at the finish line – though just about impossible given the crowds – bicycle racing fans can see a lot of amazing action before the finish line, especially this close to a group sprint finish.
I thought about calling this photograph “How It Is Done.” While Cavendish is a phenomenal sprinter, he is even more of a threat given the discipline and power of his Columbia HTC team. The end of this race was an object lesson in how this works. The Nevada City to Sacramento stage was viewed as a “sprinter’s stage” ahead of time. With only one climb of consequence on a route that was mostly downhill or flat, it wasn’t likely that anyone would get away and stay away until the end, and that turned out to be the case. The peloton rolled into Sacramento largely intact, which is a setup for a battle between the sprinters.
The race ended with four laps on a large loop around the capitol grounds before the final sprint. From the first lap it was clear that Columbia-HTC was setting Cavendish up for the sprint. The team was at the front with Cavendish drafting a paceline of five his teammates, each of whom was prepared to push until he couldn’t continue in order to deliver Cavendish to the finish line in the last 100 meters where he would be ready to jump. On each lap the HTC group became smaller as team members finished their pulls at the front and dropped off. When I made this photograph slightly more than 200 meters from the end, Mark Renshaw, head down, was pulling with everything he had to get Cavendish to the finish. A second later he began to pull to the side and Cavendish pulled through with J.J. Haedo (seen at far left) of Saxobank trying to overtake Cavendish… unsuccessfully.
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Lance Armstrong riding to the starting line for stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle road race.
The 2010 Amgen Tour of California started this weekend with a road stage traveling from Nevada City to Sacramento, California. I made the ridiculously long drive up and back to shoot the stage, starting in Nevada City perhaps three hours before the start of the race, later making an abortive attempt to intercept the peloton just south of the town of Auburn, and then making it to the finish in Sacramento, where I found a spot about 200 meters from the finish line.
Since I’m not photographing the race officially – now that would be a kick!* – I take my own idiosyncratic approach to photographing the event. I try to shoot the start of the race, an intermediate point (if possible), and then the finish. But shooting actual racing from the sidelines isn’t an easy thing. With this in mind I also photograph a lot of other “stuff” that surrounds the event of the race. Today I first shot some of the crowds in the middle of old Nevada City, then walked the portion of the course that looped through the downtown area before it heads out onto the open road. But my main plan was to spend the hour or so right before the race in the team area, where it is often possible to grab some good close shots of many of the riders. One of the strange and wonderful things about pro cycling, at least in the United States, is that you can more or less walk right up to some of the biggest names in the sport, and right before the race they usually ride through the crowd to get to the starting line.
I picked a few likely team vehicles and hung out, eventually getting a good series of photographs of sprinter Mark Cavendish, the eventual winner of the stage. (I’ll post some of these photos later.) Then I picked out a spot at the lower end of the team area, knowing the eventually just about all of the riders would have to pass by within feet of me… including Lance Armstrong.
I have a number of photographs from previous Tours and other cycling events posted in my gallery.
* Believe it or not, this landscape photographer (and ex-cyclist) sometimes fantasizes about photographing a stage from the back of a motorcycle. Yeah, hard to believe. :-)
This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
As I do every year when the race returns to California, I have just created a Flickr group for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle race. The event starts in about a week in Northern California and travels around the state before ending a week later in Southern California. International pro bicycle racing teams compete, and a lot of big names in pro cycling take part including Lance Armstrong.
So, whether you want to see up to the minute photos from the stages of the race or post your own photographs, consider joining the group.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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