22 hours ago #atoc trended to number 9 on the Twitter trend chart.

The Amgen Tour of California was in its first official leg and it was doused in rain. Cloud cover was so low it kept helicopters grounded and radio transmissions were inconsistent. But the Tweets were coming fast and furious live from the racecourse.

21 hours ago #atoc trended to #8.

During this time Lance Armstrong of team Astana crashed and photos appears on Twitpic. Live coverage on the Amgen Tour of California website still doesn’t have any event coverage. The reporters are doing their best to fill in the time by reporting on the Women’s crit, which had some fabulous footage of the final sprint to the line.

#atoc Trends to #6 during the same hour.

@FredCast (publisher of a fantastic bike podcast) Begins to broadcast on Qik from a team car. Live TV coverage is spotty, and technical notes are the only news popping up on the tour tracker.

#atoc Trends to #4 later in that hour.

Race reports start to stream in from spectators at the In and Out Burger house, and along the descent reporting time gaps before official sources. @johanbruyneel Reports from the Astana team car that race radio is sending out mixed messages. This inevidentally leads to issues in catching Mancebo’s break from the peloton.

20 hours ago #atoc hits #1 ahead of NASCAR’s Daytona 500.

By this time the TV coverage was ground based in Santa Rosa. Camera’s could cover Mancebo’s break and the chase of the peloton. The break closed from 2’30” to nothing over the last few kilometers. Twitter followers started taking bets. I predicted Mancebo would have been caught,@FulSpeed thought otherwise. (We called it a draw at the end of the day.)

In the end Mancebo takes the race. 635 Twitter comments ensued in the following 3 hours.

Today, the action continues. And if you needed a ride @track_stand was offering a lift across town on the #atoc feed, but if you’re reading this now you probably missed it.