The impact of two major climbs and an all-day breakaway didn't factor at all into Thor Hushovd's Stage 3 victory on the wet streets of Modesto on Tuesday at the Amgen Tour of California.
The Norwegian sprinter for Cervélo TestTeam followed a perfectly executed leadout by his teammates at the end of the 101-mile race from San Jose to Modesto. He was followed across the line by Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Mark Renshaw (Columbia).
Levi Leipheimer retained the yellow jersey, in spite of a going down between the two climbs after reportedly touching wheels with Astana teammate, Lance Armstrong. The Texan remains in 4th place; David Zabriskie in 3rd and Michael Rogers in 2nd.
All-day break
A breakaway developed almost immediately after the peloton floated out of San Jose in the rain.
Rock Racing's Francisco Mancebo took the King of the Mountains points on the Sierra Road summit, about 8 miles after the start. That was enough to solidify the KOM jersey for him; he also held the green points jersey at the end of the day.
Ian Macgregor (Team Type 1) and Omer Kem (Bissell Pro Cycling) crashed on the descent, according to report from CyclingNews during the race.
The breakaway of Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), Brian Vandborg (Liquigas), Jeffry Louder (BMC Racing Team), and Bradley White (OUCH p/b Maxxis) led over Patterson Pass and almost the entire race.
As Mollema was 2:14 down in the overall standings, he was the “virtual leader” of the Tour of California for awhile as the margin between the breakaway and peloton drifted up to about 5 minutes.
Astana rode at the front of a tightly packed peloton most of the day, until the race reached the outskirts of Modesto. That when QuickStep, Columbia and Cervelo took over the pace-setting and whittled away at the breakaway's time gap.
Mollema and Louder attacked their companions in town, but that wasn't enough to hold off the peloton, which caught up within about a mile of the finish.
Coming around the final turn, Cervelo was leading the charge. Columbia seemed to be trying to put their sprinter Mark Cavendish out front, but he didn't make the move with his leadout man.
Check for final results at CyclingNews and VeloNews, although there doesn't appear to be much of a change in the Top 10.
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