Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) won a dramatic opening stage of the Tour of California when he beat John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) in a photo finish. The Brit had made a big gamble earlier in the stage when his Omega Pharma-Quick Step split the peloton in the crosswind but despite the useof energy, he still had enough left in the tank to win the final bunch sprint and become the first leader of the 8-day race.

 

Having arrived straight from a very successful Tour of Turkey, Mark Cavendish continued his excellent momentum when he won today's opening stage of the Tour of California in a very close bunch sprint. The Brit held off John Degenkolb in a very close photo finish at the end of a very dramatic and windy day in the northern part of the American state.

 

However, the win was made even more impressive by the fact that Cavendish had spent a lot of energy earlier in the stage while closest rival John Degenkolb had stayed calm in the bunch, saving themselves for the final sprint. With 61km to go, the peloton hit a section with crosswinds and this created a huge drama.

 

Team Sky were keen to get Bradley Wiggins' GC campaign off to an excellent start by putting some of the climbers on the back foot right from the beginning and so the British team hit the front and applied the pressure. BMC and Omega Pharma-Quick Step quickly joined the fun and suddenly a big 20-25-rider group had taken off.

 

While big powerhouses like Wiggins, Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Taylor Phinney (BMC), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Luke Rowe (Sky) and Matteo Trentin (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) drove the pace in the front group, the peloton was very slow to react to the acceleration and suddenly the front group was 45 seconds ahead. They quickly swallowed up the early breakaway and as the windy conditions continued, the front group was whittled down to just 15 riders.

 

Cavendish was one of 4 Omega Pharma-Quick Step riders to make the selection but Wiggins was the only GC rider who was part of the group. Despite the Brit's dedicated effort, this spelled the end for the break as almost all other teams combined forces in the chase.

 

When the group turned into a headwind, the balance tipped in favour of the peloton and with 22km to go, it was over for the front group. Instead, several new attacks took place until three riders took off in the finale.

 

Omega Pharma-Quick Step had spent a lot of energy in their attack but they still had their sights set on the stage win. They assumed their position on the front of the peloton but saw their progress come to a halt when lead-out man Mark Renshaw suffered a puncture.

 

Cannondale took over in a quest to set up Peter Sagan for the win but by the time, the peloton entered the final 2 kilometres, Omega Pharma-Quick Step were back near the front. They lost the battle to Giant-Shimano in the finale but managed to drop off Cavendish on Degenkolb's wheel.

 

Degenkolb was delivered perfectly by his time while Cavendish tried to pass him but only made a very slow progress. The two riders crossed the line side by side, with none of them knowing who had taken the win.

 

Cavendish was declared winner while Moreno Hofland (Belkin) took third ahead of Sagan. Hence, Cavendish became the first leader of the 8-day race as he did it a few weeks ago in Turkey.

 

However, he is unlikely to defend his jersey for long as the race continues with the first stage for the GC riders. Tomorrow's 20.1km stage is the race's individual time trial and should give Wiggins the chance to take the time over the climbers that he failed to do in today's brave attack.

 

The 9th edition of the Tour of California kicked off with the longest stage of the race that saw the riders tackle a 193km route starting and finishing in the state capitol of Sacramento. After a flat start, the riders entered hillier terrain at the midpoint where they went up the day's only categorized climb before they again hit flat roads back to Sacramento. The day ended with three laps of a flat 3.3km finishing circuit and so it was expected to be a day for the sprinters

 

It was pretty windy at the start and so it was a pretty nervous peloton that took off from Sacramento. With a sprint finish the most likely outcome, however, not many riders were too keen on being part of the early break and so it didn't take long for the escape to form.

 

The break takes off

Charles Planet (Team Novo Nordisk), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Bissell), Tom Leezer (Belkin) and Isaac Bolivar (Unitedhealthcare) attacked early in the stage and at the 10km mark, they were already 2 minutes ahead. Will Routlet (Optum) and Matt Cooke (Jamis) managed to bridge the gap to make it a six-rider break that was allowed to build up a solid gap.

 

It reached 5 minutes a little before the 20km mark where the riders turned from a crosswind into a strong headwind. Unsurprisingly, Omega Pharma-Quick Step assumed their usual position on the front of the peloton, keeping the gap stable at around 5 minutes for some time in a quest to set up Mark Cavendish for a sprint win.

 

Leezer scores points

As Leezer beat Geoghegan Hart and Routley in the first intermediate sprint after 65.9km of racing, the gap was 4.45 but it came down to 3.45 when the escapees approached the hilly middle part of the race at the 96km mark. In the second sprint, it was again Leezer ahead of Geoghegan Hart and Bolivar.

 

The gap was 3.50 when they escapees hit the only climb of the day where Cooke attacked his companions. The American won the KOM jersey in 2013 and was keen to add to his collection of points right from the beginning of this year's edition of the race.

 

Routley takes first mountains jersey

The move was unsuccessful though as Routley passed the Optum rider before the line to take the first KOM jersey of the race. Bolivar rolled across the line in third while Geoghegan Hart was fourth ahead of Planet.

 

The fast pace was too much for Planet who dropped off while Cooke and Routley had a small gap over their former companions. However, things came back together on the descent and the six riders again started to work together.

 

Giant and OPQS lead the chase

The gap had now come down to 3.15 where Omega Pharma-Quick Step kept it stable for some time. The Belgian team was joined by Giant-Shimano and for several kilometres, Thomas Damuseau (Giant) and Martin Velits (OPQS) swapped turns on the front.

 

With 70km to go, the gap had come down to 2.40 and 5km further up the road, OPQS decided to add a bit more firepower to the chase when Guillaume Van Kerirsbulck joined the two riders working on the front.

 

With 61km to go, the riders approached a section with crosswind and suddenly the battle for position was fierce. Jelly Belly and Sky went head to head at the front and unsurprisingly, the British team won the battle.

 

Sky attack in the crosswind

Christian Knees took a huge turn and then left it to teammates Bradley Wiggins, Nathan Early and Luke Rowe to continue the acceleration. Tom Boonen, Matteo Trentin (OPQS),Taylor Phinney, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Markel Irizar, Jasper Stuyven, Danny Van Poppel (Trek) and Andreas Schillinger (NetApp) were quick to join them and suddenly a 20-25 rider group had taken off.

 

The peloton didn't really get organized while almost everybody were riding hard in the front group. With 54km, they had already caught the early break, despite Bolivar making a desperate attempt to continue on his own.

 

15 riders escape

With Wiggins, BMC and OPQS as the main driving forces, all the early escapees and a few others were sent out the back door until only 16 riders remained in the front group. Van Poppel had extreme bad luck when he suffered a puncture that saw him fall back to the peloton, leaving just Wiggins, Rowe, Cavendish, Renshaw, Trentin, Boonen, Phinney, Van Avermaet, Hofland, Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE), Koen De Kort (Giant-Shimano), Schillinger, Dempster, Irizar and Stuyven to battle on

 

With 40km to go, the group was 45 seconds ahead but gradually the peloton were starting to get organized. Belkin were the first to kick into action as Laurens Ten Dam had missed the move and Giant-Shimano were also quick to join the chase. Cannondale gradually started to commit to the chase and as BMC, Garmin, NetApp, UnitedHealthCare and Optum also put riders on the front, the gap started to come down.

 

The peloton gets organized

Riders like Caleb Fairly, Philip Gaimon, Tom Danielson, Tiago Machado, Paul Voss, Michael Schär, Fabio Sabatini, Roy Curvers, Jens Voigt, Amael Moinard, Lars Boom, Maarten Wynants, Edward King, Daan Olivier and Jack Bobridge combined forces to gradually reel in the break and with 22km to go, it was over for the brave attackers. At this point, Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp) was chasing to get back after hitting the deck in a small crash.

 

Boonen and Phinney escaped on their just before the junction was made while several attacks were launched from the peloton. A small group with Sagan and Machado joined the two leaders but it soon came back together.

 

New attacks

Instead, the attacking continued, with Ben King (Garmin) and Daniel Summerhill (UHC) being the first to get a solid gap. They were joined by Jonathan Clarke (UHC) and Ted King (Cannondale) and later also by Velits and Chad Haga (Giant-Shimano). When a group with Phinney and Van Avermaet also made the junction, it came back together 17km from the line.

 

Kiel Reijnen (UHC) and Jacob Rathe (Jelly Belly) were the next to try and they were joined by Gregory Daniel (Bissell) to form a trio that was allowed to take off. They soon had a 20-second gap while behind OPQS took control of the situation.

 

Reijnen becomes lone leader

The three riders worked well together but their advantage started to come down and by the time, they passed the finish line for the first time - with Daniel taking maximum points in the intermediate sprint - they were only 10 seconds ahead of the peloton that was now led by Jamis.

 

Daniel dropped off just after the line and a few hundred metres further up the road, Rathe had also had enough. However, Reijnen did an excellent job to extend his lead to 20 seconds while OPQS were now back in control.

 

Reijnen is caught

Reijnen got a bit more hope when Renshaw punctured, forcing OPQS to slow down and instead it was Jamis and Cannondale that took over, leading the peloton onto the penultimate lap. Cannondale took the entire responsibility, with Kristijan Koren leading 6 of his teammates, and when they crossed the line to start the final lap, Reijnen was back in the fold.

 

Jamis was briefly back in control until the Omega Pharma-Quick Step train took over. Trentin led the peloton for most of the final lap until Niki Terpstra sprinted against the Giant train at the flamme rouge.

 

Terpstra hits the front

Terpstra won the battle but when he faded away, Giant took the front. Next to them Boonen tried to pass them with Renshaw and Cavendish on his wheel but when he failed, Renshaw dropped off Cavendish on Degenkolb's wheel.

 

Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg gave Degenkolb the perfect lead-out and the German seemed to be on his way to take another win when Cavendish started to make progress. The Manxman passed his rival just before the line to take both the win and the first leader's jersey.