Tag Archives: road

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sports

George Hincapie, Pre-Race

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George Hincapie, Pre-Race
George Hincapie, Pre-Race

George Hincapie, Pre-Race. Nevada City, California. May 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

George Hincapie of Team BMC rides to the starting line for stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California professional bicycle stage race.

Looking fresh before the first stage of the week-long 2010 Amgen Tour of California, BMC rider George Hincapie heads from the team area to the starting line in Nevada City, California. At this point, most of the riders look fresh and ready to go, especially on the first day of the tour before the stresses of a week of very long and very hard cycling days begin to take their toll.

And speaking of that toll, a few hours and a bit more than 100 miles later the peloton rolled into Sacramento, California to do four laps of a downtown loop around the Capitol grounds. There was a crash on the last lap and many riders went down, including Hincapie. I think that the contrast between Hincapie’s appearance in this photograph and in the one that follows is striking and illustrate what people are talking about when they describe the role of “suffering” in professional bike racing. (If you are seeing this at my blog, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see the second photo.)

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2500 second

keywords: amgen, tour, of, california, stage, one, 2010, bicycle, road, race, pro, professional, usa, north america, sports, nevada, city, george, hincapie, team, bmc, ride, to, starting, line, pre race, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sports

Levi Leipheimer, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California

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Levi Leipheimer, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California
Levi Leipheimer, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California

Levi Leipheimer, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California. Nevada City, California. May 16. 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Team RadioShack rider and previous tour winner Levi Leipheimer rides to the starting line for stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California.

Levi Leipheimer is among the favorites to win the overall title in the 2010 Amgen Tour of California bicycle road race – after all he is on Team RadioShack and he has won several past editions of the race. This photograph was made before the start of the first stage of the race in Nevada City, California as he and the other rides rode from the team vehicles to the starting line for the 100+ mile road race to Sacramento.

As I often do when shooting the team area before the start of the race, I used a long focal length lens so that I could cover a large field of view and react quickly as different riders came past. Sometimes I barely had time to squeeze of a shot or two before they were gone or other riders came into the scene.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1600 second

keywords: amgen, tour, of, california, stage, one, 2010, bicycle, road, race, pro, professional, usa, north america, sports, nevada, city, levi, leipheimer, team, radioshack, nissan, trek, levi, leipheimer, team, radioshack, armstrong, nissan, trek, rides, starting, line, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: Sports

Mark Cavendish, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California

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Mark Cavendish, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California
Mark Cavendish, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California

Mark Cavendish, Stage One, 2010 Tour of California. Nevada City, California. May 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pre-race photograph of Mark Cavendish at Stage One, 2010 Amgen Tour of California

Mark Cavendish is arguably today’s pre-eminent professional cycling sprinter. This photograph was made in Nevada City, California as he emerged from the Columbia HTC team vehicle to sign autographs before getting on his bike and heading to the starting line for stage one of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California. He ultimately one the sprint in Sacramento over 100 miles and several hours later.

I posted yesterday about my photography in the team area prior to these races and the great opportunities this provides for getting close shots of riders, along with cycling equipment, spectators, and the general excitement before the start of a major professional race. My tactic here is usually to put a long lens on the camera, explore, and be ready to react quickly – often a rider may appear for a few moments outside a team vehicle or quickly ride by on the way to the starting line and you have to pick off a shot quickly or not get it at all. In this case I spotted a nearby stairway that would give an unobstructed view of anyone coming out of this team vehicle and gave me a clear shot at the path that riders were taking to the finish line. I decided to spend a few minutes here to see what would happen, and I got lucky when Cavendish emerged and spent a few minutes with fans.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/400 second

keywords: amgen, tour, of, california, stage, one, 2010, bicycle, road, race, pro, professional, usa, north america, sports, nevada, city, pre, race, mark, cavandish, winner, first place, sprinter, high road, columbia, htc, team, sunglasses, portrait, close-up, stock

Commentary

About the Tour of California photographs

3 Comments

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!