Hushovd claims California stage win

Cervélo TestTeam’s Thor Hushovd (31), from Norway, won the team’s first stage on Feb. 17 at the Amgen Tour of California with a stunning final km sprint propelled by a classic leadout from teammates Hayden Roulston, Dominique Rollin and Brett Lancaster.

Thor Hushovd first across the finish line of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California stage 3 in Modesto, Feb. 17. (Bart Ah You/The Modesto Bee)

The stage began in the pouring rain, for the third day running, in San Jose, the oldest city in California (1777) and the capital of Silicon Valley, and it didn’t let up. “It was good to see how smoothly we were together,” commented Dominique Rollin. Sports Director Jean Paul Von Poppel called it a perfect train with Roulston starting the action about 2 km out.

” I just sat on Brett’s wheel, it was so efficient” said Hushovd, “it was great teamwork.”

The largest cycling event in America, the 2009 Amgen Tour of California is a Tour de France-style cycling road race presented by AEG that challenges the world’s top professional cycling teams to compete along a demanding, recently expanded, 750-mile course from Sacramento to Escondido from February 14-22, 2009.

Founded in 2005, Breakaway from Cancer continues to raise awareness and funds to support valuable services and programs, provided free of charge, that help people living with cancer. The initiative was created by Amgen as a complementary component to the company’s sponsorship of the Amgen Tour of California. This year, the initiative continues to support the important programs and tools offered by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and The Wellness Community.

Source: amgentourcalifornia.com