Holczer satisfied with Tour of California changes

By Susan Westemeyer

Hans-Michael Holczer is a happy man again -- at least, he is happier with the Tour of California than he was a few days ago. For one thing, the mass sprint finish went well on Tuesday, and even if one of his Gerolsteiner riders didn't win, "They all finished safely. That's a good thing."

A crash in the race's first stage caused a lot of confusion when not all the riders involved were given the same finishing time. On Monday, Holczer was unhappy that his Swiss rider Oliver Zaugg lost four and a half minutes, and said, "The last word has not yet been spoken."

But Tuesday night things had been changed to Holczer's satisfaction. "The jury has corrected the results of the first stage," he noted. "Even if the crash happened about 10 kilometres before the finish, there's a rule that when 60 percent of the field is involved, then all riders receive the same time." The jury applied this rule retroactively, and Zaugg was given the same time as the others.