Britain’s Mark Cavendish used a finishing sprint in the first stage of this year’s Tour of California to seize the leader’s yellow jersey on Sunday.
The 10-time Tour de France stage winner edged out second place finisher Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) of Argentina, while Norway’s Alexander Kristoff (BMC) was third in the 168km road stage from Nevada City, California, to Sacramento.
The second phase was to take place yesterday on a 176km course between Davis and Santa Rosa, in the northern half of the state. There are eight stages in the Tour of California, which finishes on Sunday in the hills above Los Angeles. Cavendish, who rides for the American HTC-Columbia team, was timed in four hours, four minutes and 46 seconds.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“It’s seven weeks to go for the Tour de France and it gave the team confidence,” Cavendish said. “We should get the same results as we did last year at the Tour de France.”
With a 10-second bonus time for his win, Cavendish will benefit from a four-second race lead over Haedo and a six-second margin over Kristoff for the second stage.
Three-time defending race winner Levi Leiphiemer and RadioShack teammate Lance Armstrong finished in the main field in the same time as the winner.
Five riders, including former world title holders Tom Boonen (Quick Step) of Belgium and Stuart O’Grady of Australia, crashed on the final circuit. The fallen riders finished and were given the same time as the winner.
Cavendish earned his third career stage win in the five year history of the race.
He remained behind several teammates as the field of 128 riders approached the beginning of the three final circuits around Sacramento. He then moved to the front inside the final kilometers and was briefly challenged by Haedo.
Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Marc De Maar (United Healthcare) both of the Netherlands and Americans Chad Beyer (BMC), Paul Mach (Bissell) emerged from the field after about 16km.
The foursome built more than a five minute lead and rode at the front for nearly four hours before being caught about 16km from the finish.
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