Tour of California Stage 3 made for mountain men

Cyclists competing in the Amgen Tour of California wanted a more challenging course, and they got one.

Riders will face five King of the Mountain climbs when the tour comes to Modesto on Wednesdayto begin Stage 3, a 102.7-mile ride to San Jose.

Mount Hamilton and the surrounding area is affectionately called the "California Alps" by local racers for its 4,360-foot elevation. Jason Klikna of Merced, a former touring cyclist, expects Mount Hamilton to be a key climb.

"That's going to be the (stage) decider. It's one of the points where the race unfolds. Ten to 15 riders will come over the top in the front group," he said, adding that Mount Hamilton's ascent compares to some in the Tour de France. "Same length, steepness. It's a 20K climb. The longest climbs in the Tour (de France) are 20K. It goes on forever. It's very exciting for the fans to watch."

Then there's the descent. What goes up must come down, and in this case it should be at blazing speeds.

"It's a very serious descent -- technical. Average (speed), 50-plus. Think of that on two thin tires," James Raia said Monday, stationed in Santa Rosa covering Stage 1 from Sausalito.

Raia, of Sacramento, has written about cycling for 25 years, including 10 years covering the Tour de France.

"There are no football pads here. You go down, they scrape guys off the road," he said. "There's a saying: There are two kinds of cyclists -- those who have broken their collarbone, and those who are about to."

King of the Mountain sections come with jerseys -- and extra points -- awarded to the fastest climber at each hilltop. Of all the tour stretches, Stage 3 has the most KOMs: Del Puerto Canyon, two on San Antonio Valley Road, Mount Hamilton and the last on Sierra Road.

Ben Jacques-Maynes of the Bissell Pro Cycling Team is familiar with the course that ends with an 18-mile sprint into his hometown of San Jose. He's trained on parts of the course many times.

"Normally when you see a KOM, that's a sign of a good cycling hill, and a really bumpy day," said Jacques-Maynes, who is tied for eighth overall after Stage 1. "Whether that's good mainly depends on if you're a climber. The sprinter on our team is having conniptions right now. The Tour of California is measuring up to be one of the hardest ones on record."

The tour included Sierra Road last year, picking up at Sierra and Piedmont roads just outside Milpitas during the stage from Stockton to San Jose. The make-or-break stage beat down Jacques-Maynes. He finished in a group of 37 riders who tied for 38th out of 130 in the stage, 3 minutes, 3 seconds behind winner Jens Voigt.

Jacques-Maynes went into the stage in third place.

"The hardest day of the tour was made harder in every way," he said, adding that he and other riders have prepared for this year's event "at our max on hills to be able to make it over those hills as fast as we can."

The first climb is 2,381 feet up Del Puerto Canyon Road.

"It will soften up the legs of the riders," Klikna said. "It's not super steep. It won't break up the peloton a ton. You'll see a few breakaways go, if they haven't already gone."

Bee staff writer Kelly Jones can be reached at kjones@modbee.com or 578-2300.