Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) won the 2010 Amgen Tour of California on Sunday after withstanding relentless attacks from his rivals in the final miles of the hilly concluding circuit race.

Rogers’ win ended a three-year streak at the California tour for Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack), who wound up third overall, behind Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions).

Zabriskie’s teammate Ryder Hesjedal won the stage, outsprinting a small group including George Hincapie (BMC) and Chris Horner (RadioShack).

“They made me sweat until the end,” Rogers said. “I really didn’t expect this stage to be so hard.”

Garmin-Transitions in control
The final stage was an 83.5-mile circuit race northwest of Los Angeles, comprising four laps of a hilly, technical 21-mile circuit.


Zabriskie’s team signaled from the start that it intended to take control of the race, driving the pack for the first lap and a half, preventing any breakaway from getting more than a few seconds’ advantage. By the end of the first lap the lead group was down to fewer than 50 riders, including all the favorites.

KOM leader Thomas Rabou (Team Type 1) was aggressive, getting into several small attacks in the opening laps, including one with Quick Step’s Carlos Barredo on the second lap that built a small gap and then was absorbed by a larger group, forming a breakaway of seven riders:

•George Hincapie (BMC), 18th at 6:03
•Jeremy Vennell (Bissell), 25th at 30:57
•Thomas Rabou (TT1), 33rd at 40:39
•Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack), 37th at 44:21
•Carlos Barredo (Quick Step), 41st at 50:08
•Oscar Pujol (Cervélo), 44th at 55:07
•Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank), 77th at 1:36:52
Hincapie was the best placed and HTC-Columbia paid attention, taking over at the front as the pack tackled its third lap, with some assistance from RadioShack.


Leipheimer leads
On the penultimate descent, Hincapie, Popovych and Pujol attacked the others and got a gap, but the group of seven came back together to start the final lap with a gap of nearly three minutes.

Final lap throw down
With Zabriskie’s ambitions slipping away, Garmin began chasing in earnest at the start of the last lap. The yellow jersey group strung out single file and the gap began plummeting as Garmin’s Matt Wilson drilled it at the front, with Rogers and his guard and the RadioShack group keeping close to the front.

Leipheimer had an untimely mechanical near the base of the climb, taking a new rear wheel from teammate Jason McCartney and moving back up through the caravan with some help from Janez Brajkovic and Chris Horner.

On the final climb for the break, Barredo and Pujol each launched some attacks, shedding Vennell, Popovych and Rabou, but not Hincapie.

After his chase back from the mechanical, Leipheimer recovered briefly before launching a sharp attack with 17km to go. Rogers marked the move immediately, but Zabriskie missed it, relying on Hesjedal to bring him back up.

The attack separated the top of the GC podium from the rest of the pack. On the final climb the elite group was Leipheimer, Zabriskie and Rogers, accompanied by Hesjedal, Horner and Popovych, who faded back from the breakaway to lend a hand.

Rogers was the only podium player lacking a teammate in the group, and Garmin and RadioShack made the most of it, trading attacks and counter-attacks until Horner and Hesjedal separated themselves near the top of the climb. The pair bridged to the Hincapie break on the descent.

The new gang of five — Hincapie, Pujol and Barredo from the original break and newcomers Horner and Hesjedal — entered the last kilometer together, trailed by less than a minute by Rogers, Zabriskie and Leipheimer.

Barredo led out the sprint before Horner took over and Hesjedal kicked around him. Hincapie was poorly positioned behind Horner and unable to react to Hesjedal’s jump, but came around Horner and Barredo to take second.

A few seconds later, Rogers crossed the line with a one-armed salute, secure in his golden leader’s jersey despite the relentless attacks on the final lap.

“We gave it a good try,” said Leipheimer later. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Am I disappointed? Not at all.”




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