Cavendish logs first Tour of California win; Leipheimer still in yellow

Mark Cavendish put his name in the win column for the first time at the Amgen Tour of California on Wednesday by winning a long sprint in Clovis.

Team Columbia's speedster from the Isle of Man stayed in the peloton with his fellow sprinters as Stage 4 wound through the Sierra foothills on the 115-mile day that boasted 5 King of the Mountain climbs.

In spite of a breakaway led by US National road champ Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing), the sprinters' teams pulled the race back together in Clovis. Learning from Tuesday's miscues, Team Columbia got Cavendish to the front where he launched a long sprint.

Close finish

Tom Boonen of QuickStep nearly took him at the line, and Tuesday winner, Thor Hushovd of Cervelo, finished third.

Cavendish logged 17 wins in 2008, including four at the Tour de France and three at the Tour of Missouri, his first wins on US soil. Wednesday's win marked his third victory this year.

Levi Leipheimer retained his overall lead of the Tour. He's looking for his third straight championship. Teammate Lance Armstrong remained in 4th, David Zabriskie (Garmin) in 3rd and Michael Rogers (Columbia) in 2nd.

Break

Hamilton was joined by Jason McCartney (Team Saxo Bank) and Serge Pauwels (Cervelo)  on the breakaway through the Mother Lode that gained up to 6 minutes at one time. Stage 1 winner Francisco Mancebo attached himself to the break long enough to take a couple of King of the Mountains points.

The route through the Sierra foothills brought the peloton into contact with something not yet faced on this year's Tour, snow. Astana's directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel snapped this photo of the back of the peloton going over one of the climbs on Wednesday; the last climb had to be cleared by snow removal equipment.

The descents proved trecherous, as Kim Kirchen, an outside favorite to win, crashed when putting on his jacket. Former world champ Oscar Freire of Rabobank and Scott Nydam of BMC also fell. All three broke bones and will be out of cycling for a while.

. Both were taken to the emergency room for treatment.

Top 10 overall

1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia – Highroad   24 seconds behind
3 David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin – Slipstream  28 seconds
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana   30 seconds
5 Christopher Horner (USA) Astana   34 seconds
6 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana   38 seconds
7 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia
8 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
10 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank   39 seconds

Mancebo still holds the mountains jersey and the points jersey.