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Videos: On board with Giant-Shimano at the final Tour of California stage - more great footage

Watch the last 3km as Degenkolb goes for the sprint, and descend at 88kph with Lawson Craddock

The on-bike video footage we posted earlier this week from John Degenkolb and Jens Voigt at the Amgen Tour of California proved to be popular, given the insider’s view of the racing they provided, so here’s a couple more to wrap it up.

First, we’re following Degenkolb again as the Giant-Shimano sprinter tries to win the concluding stage of the race in Pasadena.

As in the video of the opening stage, he’s beaten to the line by Mark Cavendish, but this video gives a better view of the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider’s win than the earlier one did.

It’s mainly shot from Koen de Kort’s bike – you can see how Degenkolb loses his team mate’s wheel ahead of the final run-in, as he is unable to find a way past two former world champions, Cavendish and Thor Hushovd.

The point-of-view switches to the Shimano Sport Camera mounted on Degenkolb’s bike for the final 150-metre charge to the line.

Also from Stage 8 is this video of the descent of Westlake Boulevard, taken from the bike of another Giant-Shimano rider, the 22-year-old American, Lawson Craddock – he finished third overall and won the young rider’s classification – with the speed hitting 88kph on the way down.

The UCI, whose president Brian Cookson has pledged to modernise TV coverage of cycling including potentially putting cameras on bikes and in team cars, authorised a trial of video at the race. We’re keeping our fingers crossed we’ll see more.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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14 comments

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Daddylonglegs | 10 years ago
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New racers please note Degenkolb's firm but coolly gentle push of another rider he needed to move out of the way.

So different to an experience I had in a recent low-category race. A rider, presumably new to the game and doubtless loaded with adrenalin and possibly taking his cue from the telly, in the middle of the bunch, palming off other riders as if he was in a rugby match. Some of us remonstrated with him, explaining to him as calmly as the circumstances permitted that he was likely to bring us all down if he carried on like that. Needless to say we were met with a wall of abuse.

This is great TV, but can all new racers remember to bear in mind, there are several biking skills (not least of all the banishment of abject terror through experience) being deployed here, very few of which can be acquired from a few Sunday rides and a daily commute.

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leaway2 | 10 years ago
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Wow that's the closest I'll ever get to riding in a GT.

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sturdmaster | 10 years ago
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Great footage - maybe they could show the speeds of the riders in the final sprint.

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Jacob | 10 years ago
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The first video of the last 3km is amazing! I have never seen that POV before and could almost feel the chaos and excitement. This is how to get people excited about road cycling. I love that you can hear them as well. Should have this for every event, live or not.

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therevokid | 10 years ago
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ooooohhhhhh mummy ... squeaky bum times ...  1

Absolutely fab !!!!

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RobD | 10 years ago
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Definitely want to see some TTT footage, that'd be pretty cool

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mrchrispy | 10 years ago
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Meh....it's okay!

/goes and watches for the 10th time!!!!
Awesome stuff

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FatAndFurious | 10 years ago
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Up with this sort of thing!

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crazy-legs | 10 years ago
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Loving the 3km to go video, the organised chaos of the bunch sprint. Brilliant.

Not bothered about it being live but that footage, from various angles / various riders would be brilliant on the highlights programme after each stage.

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Gkam84 replied to crazy-legs | 10 years ago
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crazy-legs wrote:

Loving the 3km to go video, the organised chaos of the bunch sprint. Brilliant.

Not bothered about it being live but that footage, from various angles / various riders would be brilliant on the highlights programme after each stage.

From what I gather, it was on the highlights programmes in America.

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matheson | 10 years ago
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This will be awesome when/if it goes on TV as live footage, but even then it's great to see the insider view of the sprint.

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Roberj4 | 10 years ago
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Brilliant coverage. Hope this gets further development and into teams for 2015. Sure we'll have more snippets during this year though

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anarchy | 10 years ago
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that last 3km footage is great. More of this please!

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Gkam84 | 10 years ago
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I love the final 3km video. I just wish there was a simple way for that to go live at the time on multi screen so we could switch between riders.

I like the way he hands off one Jelly Belly rider and they shouts another from coming up his inside.

Then gets chopped off by Cav and Thor.

We need more of this, every team.

Not fussed about the descending video if I'm honest. I can do things like that with my own bike and camera. It is the things that normal people won't experience I want to be watching. So mainly Team Time Trials and sprints.

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