Tour of California Stage 3

8" x 10" Oil on panel.

$100 - Shipping to US included.

Stage 3 of the 2010 ATOC was just as decisive as expected. It ended with the final podium crossing the finish line together. This painting is from a crop of a Jonathan Devich photo of Levi and DZ. I was after capturing the intense sunshine especially through the shadow on the pavement. Most of the finish photos of the stage are overexposed from the bright pavement and capture a great moment where DZ almost loses to a bike throw. I most remember the moist rain forest climbs and California coastlines from that day, so there are a lot of choices to sum up the stage.

Even though we had wet pavement under the trees the weather was pleasant for stage 3. We had a pretty strange start with Garmin holding up the ending of the neutral section by changing bikes a couple of times. The race was finally stopped on the road to get things resolved. This was highly unusual and the Garmin mechanic actually pushed over a motoref bike while getting out of the team car! Justice was served through some fines and the fact that their delay caused the live coverage to end just before Zabriskie won the stage. Ironic Karma.

And yes, you may notice that I missed the Livestrong trim on Levi's left arm. I think I'll need to touch that up....:^)