Greg Henderson wins third stage of 2011 Amgen Tour of California: Cycling News
Sky Pro cycling team's Greg Henderson won the third stage of 2011 Amgen Tour of California from Auburn to Modesto, on Tuesday, May 17. He also took lead in the general classification leader’s golden jersey.
Greg Henderson took a total of 5 hours, 14 minutes and 29 seconds to cover the distance of 196.2 kilometres.
After winning the stage, the 34-year-old Greg Henderson said, "We put two guys up front to chase all day. We tried to set up the finish for Ben Swift, but there was a bit of a mix up with 1km to go and I didn't know about it. I opened up my sprint with 500m
to go expecting him to come around - I'm just lucky enough to have had the legs to last to the line."
Recently, Greg Henderson won the second stage of Paris-Nice and in 2010 he also won the fourth and ninth stage of Tour of Southland.
Several crashes marred in the last kilometre, Henderson across the finish-line comfortably ahead of Saxo Bank-Sungard team’s Juan Jose Haedo. Thor Hushovd of the Garmin Cervelo team finished third spot.
The winner of second stage Ben Swift was also in good from but finished in 11th spot.
The group of three riders, Jan Barta (Netapp), Phillip Gaimon (Kenda/5-hour Energy Pro Cycling) and Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Cycling) made first break earlier in the race.
The breakaway gained advantage of 6 minute and 40 seconds and Barta won the first intermediate sprint. After few kilometres, last two riders caught by the peloton, but Jan Barta maintain his speed, again picked up additional three second and took second
sprint.
When the race entered in Oakdale, Christian Meier of the United HealthCare Pro cycling team attacked and took a third sprint ahead of two riders.
In the final sprint of the race, Saxo-Bank Sungard moved to the front of the bunch and quickly joined the Sky team to maintain his lead. However, Sky team worked hard together for Greg Henderson at the front of the pack and he crossed the line without any
difficulty.
Henderson said, “There was a lot of chaos on the final lap. We were all lined up. With 100 meters to go, I thought no one had come around me, so I just kept my head down. I was absolutely spent at the line.”
Greg Henderson is also took lead in the overall classification with the timing of 8 hours, 1 minutes and 31 seconds, while Ben Swift was runner-up. Peter Sagan finished third with the difference of four seconds adrift.
The next stage will start in Livermore and end in San Jose. All the riders will cover the distance of 131.6 kilometres.
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