Wild sprint to the finish of ‘first’ stage of Amgen bike race
By John Schumacher and Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee
Sky Procycling’s team surged to the front with one two-mile circuit left in Monday’s second stage of the Amgen Tour of California, then delivered sprinter Ben Swift to a narrow victory.
“It was my opportunity to go for the win,” the 23-year-old British cyclist said after donning the leader’s yellow jersey. “Everybody did their job 100 percent.”
Swift grabbed his fifth stage victory of the year in a stage shortened from 133.2 miles to 76.3 miles. The start was moved from Squaw Valley to Nevada City because of concerns over potential bad weather and road conditions on Donner Summit.
Swift sprinted past runner-up Peter Sagan of Liquigas-Cannondale and third-place finisher Matt Goss of HTC-Highroad in the closing yards approaching the finish line at 11th and L Streets.