Los Angeles, California —
The Amgen 2010 Tour of California bicycle race came to a close yesterday with Stage 8, a circular 83.5 mile hilly circuit race in Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Australia's xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx of w:Team HTC-Columbia won the race after finishing eighth in the final stage. Rogers held the overall lead position since Thursday, when he took the yellow jersey from American rider w:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx of w:Garmin-Transitions after Stage 5. Zabriskie and fellow American rider, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx of Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx finished second and third, respectively.
Now in it's fifth year, the race has quickly become one of North America's most important cycling races, but the successes of this year were overshadowed by doping allegations against some of the riders by disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis.
Landis, who won the inaugural w:Tour of California in 2006, was stripped of his w:2006 Tour de France title and banned from professional racing for two years by the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (UCI) and US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after a urine sample tested positive for banned substances. For four years he maintained his innocence, but this week he admitted to the Wall Street Journal and ESPN.com that he had in fact used performance-enhancing drugs throughout most of his career. Landis told ESPN.com that he had used testosterone; steroid patches; human growth hormones; insulin; female hormones; xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (EPO), a red blood cell-boosting drug; and blood transfusions when he rode for the U.S. Postal Service cycling team and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
—Floyd LandisIn a series of e-mails to the USADA, UCI, and USA Cycling, Landis has also accused former teammates and 2010 Tour of California competitors Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, three-time Tour of California winner Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; and other cyclists and people involved in the sport, including Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx of taking part in, or being directly involved in doping. The New York Times reports that Landis is also cooperating with a United States' Food and Drug Administration's investigation led by Special Agent xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, the man who headed the BALCO steroids case.
Armstrong held an impromptu press conference before the start of Thursday's Stage 4 to deny the allegations against him, telling reporters: "Floyd lost his credibility a long time ago. He pointed the finger at everybody still involved in cycling. Everybody that's still enjoying the sport, everybody that still believes in the sport, everybody still working in the sport was in the cross-hairs." He claimed that Landis was threatening to make the accusations two months ago when he found out that he was not invited to take part in the race, adding that the timing of Landis' admittance and accusations while xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx was wearing the yellow jersey were a distraction to the race and the sport. Armstrong's Team RadioShack also released a number of emails Friday between xxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxxx, and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx of AEG Sports, which it says prove Landis is lying.
Landis made an appearance during Stage 7 in xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Saturday, but stayed in a private hospitality tent at the start/finish line hosted by his sponsor, OUCH-Bahati Foundation. Attempts made by Wikinews to speak to Landis were blocked by a team of heavily armed security men who quickly drove him away from the race shortly after it finished.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx was Thursday's Stage 4 starting point for riders who embarked on a 121.4 mile (195.5 km) trek through the San Joaquin Valley and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Bakersfield, that included a circuit 5.9km long with a 1km climb three times. Zabriskie entered the stage as overall leader and wore the yellow jersey, with Rogers in second place.
Four miles into the stage on a two-lane road near xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, a rider skidded on loose gravel and fell, causing 20 riders from the peloton including Armstrong and teammate Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and riders from three other teams to be caught in a massive pile-up. Armstrong touched wheels with another rider and fell, resulting in a severe one-inch laceration below his left eye and a badly bruised left arm. He remounted his bicycle and continued on, but retired due to his injuries. "It was one of those crashes that put a bunch of us down. I tried to give it a go but my eye was swollen so I couldn't see properly, and the pain in the elbow prevented me from holding the bars for the remainder of the stage. It was a relief to learn there were no breaks," Armstrong said in a statement to press. He was given eight stitches to the cut on his cheek by the Team RadioShack doctor, taken to Bakersfield Memorial Hospital for X-rays. He was released that night and flew home to Austin, Texas. O'Grady  also dropped out of the race due to injuries.
The crash seemed to have little effect on 20-year-old Slovakian xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx of team Liquigas-Doimo, leading in the Youth Classification. In the final 100m of the stage, an ascent heading towards the finish line at Bakersfield College, he picked up the pace and passed Zabriskie and Rogers, completing the stage first in 4 hours, 52 minutes, 58 seconds, and in fourth place in the General Classifications. He retained the white jersey in the Youth Classification and won the green jersey in the Sprints Classification. Rogers finished second and rose to the top of the General Classification leader board with an overall race time of 22h 56' 59" to earn the yellow jersey. Zabriskie finished the stage third, and came in second overall.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx hosted the start of Friday's Stage 6, which race officials hailed as the tour's Queen Stage. It played host to seven categorized climbs to the finish line at Snow Summit in Big Bear Lake, at an elevation of 6,752 feet. Overall, riders climbed 12,000 feet over 135 miles through the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and San Bernadino Mountains.

With the absence of Armstrong, spectators' attentions turned to his RadioShack teammate xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, the three-time defending Tour of California titlist. One local who wrote "Go Levi" in chalk on the pavement just meters in front of the start line told Wikinews that although it would have been something special for Armstrong to visit Palmdale, she thought he was "too old now to comepte effectively anyway. It's all about his status as a celebrity now rather than as a sportsman. He's passed his peak and the younger guys are more exciting."
User:Matthewedwards/Rogers wins 8-stage Tour of California; race hampered by doping accusations