Team CSC's Juan Jose Haedo won the sprint finish in Santa Rosa on Monday, marking the third year that the Argentine speedster has won a stage of the Amgen Tour of California.
Teammate Fabian Cancellara, who held on to the overall leader's yellow jersey, was seen cheering back in the bunch as Haedo won by about two bike lengths.
A bunch of 70-some cyclists made it into Santa Rosa in time to race in the three 3.1-mile circuits around town. It looked like QuickStep was leading out Tom Boonen, but CSC Bobby Julich took over and helped power Haedo toward the finish. BMC's Alexander Moos also attacked on the final circuit.
Heartbreak
The heartbreak of the day was delivered by Jackson Stewart on the BMC Racing team. The 27-year-old cyclist from Los Gatos attacked just 9 miles out and led for more than 72 miles before he was caught 16 miles from the finish.
As a consolation prize, he did earn the most sprint points and King of the Mountain points. At one point, he had a 12-minute margin on the rest of the peloton.
Also gaining a sprint point on Monday was Mario Cipollini. I'll have to admit that I thought Super Mario was here just for publicity, but the 40-year-old Italian cyclist is definitely here to race.
Stage 1 of the Tour of California rolled out at about 11 a.m. Monday morning for the 97 mile race along the coast from Sausalito then over the mountains to Santa Rosa in the Sonoma Valley.
Haedo
Team CSC's sprinter must love the Tour of California. The 27-year-old won two stages in the inaugural Tour in 2006 when he was a rider for the Toyota-United team. In fact, his first win came on Stage 1 that finished in Santa Rosa that year.
That strong showing helped convince Team CSC that they should hire this guy for 2007. He earned his keep at the Tour of California that year by winning two more stages and the overall sprint competition for the green jersey.
Hincapie
George Hincapie, riding for High Road, gave everyone a scare as he went down on his way to the finish line. Apparently he just suffered some road rash and will be able to race Tuesday. He was knocked out of the Tour of California in 2007 by a broken wrist.
Top 10 overall
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC
2. Tyler Farrar (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, 0:02 behind
3. Bradley Wiggins (GB), Team High Road, 0:04
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, 0:06
5. David Millar (GB), Slipstream-Chipotle, 0:07
6. Gustav Larsson (Swe), CSC, 0:08
7. David Zabriskie (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle
8. Benjamin Jacques-Mayne (USA), Bissell Pro Cycling, 0:09
9. Gerald Ciolek (G), Team High Road
10. Christian Vandevelde (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, 0:10
Hincapie rose to 11th place. The top 74 cyclists are all within 43 seconds of first place.
Stewart was awarded the green jersey and the king of the mountains jersey after Monday's stage; he'll have to choose one to wear on Tuesday. Best Young Rider after Stage 1 is Gerald Ciolek (Germany) Team High Road. The leading teams are High Road, Team CSC and Slipstream.
More results at VeloNews.
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