Amgen Tour of California Stage 1 Results

Amgen Tour of California Stage 1 Results

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) opened the defense of his Amgen Tour of California 2015 championship with a sprint victory in Stage 1. Sagan defeated a group with some top world tour sprinters, including Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) and Mark Cavendish (Team Dimension Data) on the 175 km opening stage that started and ended at Sea World on the Pacific Ocean just north of downtown San Diego. While Sagan won today, he is not expected to when the General Classification jersey due to the hillier course, including the Beyond Category climb of Gibraltar Road in Stage 3. A seven-man breakaway formed early in the stage.  Daniel Patten (Team Wiggins), Daniel Eaton (UnitedHealthcare), Jacob Rathe and Michael Sheehan (Jelly Belly), Danny Pate (Rally Cycling) and Oscar Clark (Holowesko) and Joonas Henttala (Novo Nordisk) broke away in the first 10 km of the stage. Team Katusha led the chase for the peloton pulling back a six-minute gap.
With 21 km to go, three leaders were left, Jacob Rathe (Jelly Belly), Oscar Clark (Holowesko) and Daniel Patten (Team Wiggins) the lead has shrunk to one minute. The peloton swept up the leaders at the 3.4 km mark. Peter Sagan was near the front of the pack with Mark Cavendish close by. Peter Sagan sprinted past Wouter Wippert (Cannondale Pro Cycling Team) and Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto NL - Jumbo) in the last 20 meters for the win. Oscar Clark (Holowesko) took the first King of the Mountains jersey.
Peter Sagan has won his fourteenth Tour of California stage, which is the most in the race history. Tomorrow’s stage will run 148 km from South Pasadena to Santa Clarita. This will likely be another sprinters’ stage, moderate climbs at the beginning of the stage and fairly flat route towards the end.