Mark Cavendish escaped at least two crashes in the final circuit around Sacramento on Sunday to win Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California.
The speedster from HTC-Columbia just barely bested Juan Jose Haedo, who rode Cavendish's slipstream toward the finish but faded when he tried to pass.
With HTC-Columbia leading out their sprinter at the head of the peloton, there was no danger of him being caught in the carnage back in the field. Other well-known sprinters like Tom Boonen and Stuart O'Grady weren't so lucky, however.
Crashes
One crash occurred soon after the bell lap started and the second occurred within sight of the finish line. So many riders went down or were held up by the collisions that fewer than a dozen were left to participate in the final sprint.
Because the crashes occurred in the closing kilometers of the race, everyone will receive the same time.
May tour
This is the fifth running of the Tour of California, and the first time it has been held in May. The week-long race was scheduled in February in previous years, but organizers wanted better weather and a chance for a monster mountaintop finish in the Sierra Nevada, where most roads are still closed in February.
Watching the race on Versus and Tour Tracker, viewers could already see that the fields were losing their emerald green glow of early spring as everything is starting to turn brown.
This is probably the Tour's best roster, led by Lance Armstrong on Team RadioShack. Other big names include Cavendish, Tom Boonen (QuickStep), and Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O'Grady, Andy Schleck, and Jens Voigt (all of Saxo Bank).
Americans
Armstrong is here to improve his conditioning for the Tour de France in July. He disclosed at a press conference earlier that he was not as far along as he wanted to be.
Among other Americans, George Hincapie is racing at the Tour of California for BMC Racing, instead of helping out Cadel Evans in his bid to win the Giro d'Italia, the three-week Grand Tour which for the first time is competing for riders with the Tour of California. [Full roster for 2010 Tour of California]
Three-time winner and defending champion Levi Leipheimer also is on hand, looking to extend his streak of Tour of California championships to four.
Sprinters race
Sunday's Stage 1 bike race was destined to be a sprinter's finish, as the 104 mile route from Nevada City to Sacramento was essentially downhill.
The four-man breakaway of Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Chad Beyer (BMC), Marc De Maar (United Healthcare), Paul Mach (Bissell) spent much of the day out in front, but the HTC-Columbia and Liquigas controlled peloton reeled them about 10 miles from the finish.
While the HTC-Columbia train appeared ready to lead Cavendish all the way to the finish, Cancellera and Voigt launched their own surprise for Saxo Bank right at the bell lap. HTC-Columbia re-organized itself and controlled affairs to the finish.
Stage 2 on Monday looks to be another sprinter's stage of 109.5 miles from Davis to Santa Rosa, Leipheimer's home. The peloton will have to struggle up and over Trinity Grade, but should get back together by the finish.
Top 10 overall
1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Columbia
2 Juan Jose Haedo (Den) Saxo Bank — 4 seconds behind
3 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) BMC — 6 seconds
4 Robbie Hunter (South Africa) Garmin-Transitions — 10 seconds
5 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Fly V — 10 seconds
6 Marcus Burghart (Ger) BMC — 10 seconds
7 Guillaume Boivin (Can) SpiderTech by Planet Energy — 10 seconds
8 Andreas Stauff (Bel) Quick Step — 10 seconds
9 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Quick Step — 10 seconds
10 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Rabobank — 10 seconds
Full results and reports at CyclingNews and VeloNews. See the TV schedule.
Recent Comments