Greig Leach

Facing a long day of climbing in the thin air of the California Sierra Nevada Mountains, it wasn't looking good for the sprinter from the Isle of Man, Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data). Mark was being paced by his faithful teammate, Bernhard Eisel. The duo were followed by one of the race commissares, and just behind him, the broom wagon. Riders must come in within a percentage based time limit that looked like it would be about 45 minutes today. Cav made it in 36 minutes behind the race winner, about ten minutes ahead of the last man to cross the line in South Lake Tahoe. No one was disqualified due to the time limit today, but it must be worrisome for the team going into the next five days of racing.