Paul Mach climbs into KOM lead on Pinarello Dogma

Congratulations to Paul Mach (Bissell Cycling) for making it into the early break and putting the smack down on Foresthill Rd in Stage One of the Tour of California, an effort which was rewarded with the first mountains classification leader's jersey in the in the 2010 edition of the TOC. The UC Davis graduate student PHD Candidate in mathematics will have the esteemed honor of starting in his home town in this very prestigious jersey, as the TOC rolls out of Davis, CA to begin Stage Two.

Ever the modest strategist, Mach commented on his blog that he simply had "a good day." Will he be willing and able to match the accelerations over the four categorized climbs on offer on the road to Santa Rosa? He played down the idea of defending the jersey so early in the race and stated simply that "As for tomorrow, I'm just going to go race my bike." Anybody who has ever tried to hold Paul's wheel on the roads around Davis is surely not doubting that he has what it takes to hold on to the KOM title. He certainly has the right tools. But with a tough week of racing to come there are a million ways to lose it and only one sure way to hold on.

Congratulations, Paul, and good luck!