May 17, 2010 - Sacramento, CA – The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis rode a strong first stage of the Amgen Tour of California, covering 104 miles from Nevada City to Sacramento.

Marc de Maar of UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis covered an early move by former Rabobank teammate Maarten Tjallingii that turned into the main break of the day, a four-rider move that saw them out front for the better part of 100 km, and not getting caught by the peloton until 15 km to go.

“It was a good move,” de Maa said. “We worked well together. But once the sprinters’ teams things took over the chase, we pretty much knew that the break wouldn’t last.”

Coming into the three finishing circuits, the team’s sprinters – Karl Menzies and Andrew Pinfold, with Matt Crane along to help with lead-out duties – positioned themselves well toward the front of the pack in anticipation of the bunch sprint.

But on the second to last lap, a touch of wheels sent Pinfold to the tarmac. While he escaped injury, he sustained bruising and road rash, but did finish the stage. Menzies and Crane were still well-positioned in the top 20 of the bunch. One the back stretch of the final lap, more of the typical first-day nervousness in the bunch forced Menzies up against the HTC-Columbia team bus along N Street. Amazingly, he stayed upright and avoided serious injury, but he was out of contention.

Meanwhile, Crane was still holding his position near the front coming out of the final corner onto the long finishing straight until a touch of wheels sent Tom Boonen (Quick Step) to the ground, along with a large portion of the pack.

“I thought I was in good shape to get around the crash and then all of the sudden, Boonen was on the ground in front of me,” Crane said. “I really couldn’t do anything to avoid him and I t-boned him.”

In fact, only about 15 riders got through the last crash cleanly to contest the sprint, which was won by Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) ahead of J.J. Haedo (Saxo Bank).

“The guys rode great today,” said Team Director Mike Tamayo. “They did everything we asked of them today. We just had bad luck with crashes at the end of the race.”

Notes
The Tour continues Monday with a 110-mile stage from Davis to Santa Rosa.

Photo: Jonathan Devich

Print | posted on Monday, May 17, 2010 8:34 AM