Haedo of Argentina Shows Finishing Kick
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SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina, a former soccer player who began cycling 11 years ago, used a powerful sprint Monday to win the first stage of the Tour of California.
Haedo, 25, who rides for Toyota-United, a new team competing in its first race, won by about three bike lengths, finishing the 80.2-mile Sausalito-to-Santa Rosa stage in 3 hours 14 minutes 13 seconds.
Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner) of Santa Rosa, the winner of Sunday’s prologue, finished 22nd in the main pack and retained his five-second overall race lead over Bobby Julich (CSC) of Reno.
George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) of Greenville, S.C., remained third overall, trailing Leipheimer by six seconds.
The top 111 riders in the field of 127 were credited with the same time. The top three finishers were awarded 10-, six- and four-second bonuses, with Haedo improving from 98th to 69th place overall.
“It was a huge battle; it was technical,” Leipheimer said. “You wanted to stay up front and out of the crashes. Everybody wanted to be there, so it was full gas and no holding back.”
Olaf Pollack (T-Mobile) of Germany finished second in the stage, with Australia’s Stuart O’Grady (CSC) third.
“From the start of all of the climbs my team was around me trying to keep me out of trouble,” said Haedo, a four-time Argentine national titlist who won 12 races last year.
Haedo, who has several family members who cycled competitively, came to the United States in 2000 to train.
He had success for several years with another domestic-based squad before joining Toyota-United.
Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada) of Los Gatos and Jean Marc Marino (Credit Agricole) of France had about a 3 1/2 -minute lead late in stage.
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Tour of California
Monday’s race ended in Santa Rosa. The eight-day, 600-mile event ends with a circuit race Sunday in Redondo Beach. A description of each stage:
Stage 2, today: Stage finishes in downtown San Jose.
* Stage 3, Wednesday: A 17-mile individual time trial on the outskirts of San Jose.
* Stage 4, Thursday: Stage begins in Monterey and finishes 130 miles later in San Luis Obispo.
* Stage 5, Friday: The race winds through the Central Coast and ends in Santa Barbara.
* Stage 6, Saturday: Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks.
* Stage 7, Sunday: Circuit race in Redondo Beach.