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Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) won the opening stage of the Amgen Tour of California, sprinting ahead of Heinrich Haussler (Garmin – Barracuda) and Fred Rodriguez (Team Exergy).

Maxime Boulet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Jeff Louder (UnitedHealthcare), David Boily (Spidertech-C10), Andrew Dahlheim (Bissell), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Sebastian Salas (Optum pro Cycling-Kelly Benefit Strategies), Josh Atkins (Bontrager-Livestrong) and Sam Johnson (Team Exergy) formed the break of the day – the break quickly gained 5 minutes over the peloton, and capped their lead at 11 minutes.  RadioShack-Nissan chased back in the peloton, bringing the gap down to 5:20 by the time the break hit the bottom of Coleman Valley.  Boulet, Louder and Jacques-Maynes accelerated ahead away from the other riders in the break.  Rabobank reeled back the break, and 20km left from the finish line, a select lead group of 70 riders rode towards the finish in Santa Rosa.  A crash in the final 3km took out Michael Matthews (Rabobank) and 4 Bissell riders.  Sagan flatted in the last 8km but was able to recover, and avoid the crash to take the win.

Photos from SteepHill.

Domenico Pozzovivo (Colnago-CSF Inox) took the solo win atop the Lago Laceno, attacking 7km from the finish.  Pozzavivo finished 23 seconds ahead of Benat Intxausti (Movistar) and 27 seconds ahead of Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).

Andrey Amador (Movistar), Julien Bérard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Tomasz Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Miguel Mínguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)formed the break of the day 29km into the race – they opened up an 11 minute lead.  After 160km raced, Marczynski accelerated, dropping Bérard and Mínguez.  With Katusha putting work back in the peloton, the gap fell rapidly in the final 35km.  Amador and Marczynski were caught with 17km remaining.  Astana led the peloton through the Colle Molella, and Liquigas-Cannondale took over shortly thereafter.  Pozzovivo placed his attack, holding his lead until the very end.  Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin – Barracuda) remains in the GC lead, with Rodriguez 9 seconds down, and Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) 15 seconds down.

Photos from SteepHill.

Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) took the steep, uphill win at the Rocca di Cambio on stage 7 of the Giro.  Tiralongo finished ahead of Michele Scarponi (Lampre – ISD), 3 seconds ahead of Frank Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin – Barracuda).

Matteo Rabottini (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM), Fumiyuki Beppu (Orica-GreenEdge) and Reto Hollenstein (Team NetApp) were the first riders off the front of the peloton – Beppu crossed the top of the Colle Galluccio first, with the peloton crossing 7:49 later.  With 64km remaining, the break had 6:40 – 40km later, at the intermediate sprint of the day, their gap was at 2:50.  Rabottini placed a solo attack on the approached to the final climb of the day, the category 2 Rocca di Cambio.  Stef Clement (Rabobank) placed an attack, but was reeled back in - Stefano Pirazzi (Colnago-CSF Inox) was the next rider to try his luck, and was able to bridge up to Beppu, Hollenstein and Selvaggi with 16km left to race.  Pirazzi passed the trio, continuing to climb by himself.  Overnight leader, Adriano Malori (Lampre-ISD), began slipping back on the climb.  3km later, Pirazzi caught Rabottini – back in the peloton, Jose Herrada (Movistar) accelerated to catch the 2 riders up front with 12km remaining.  Pirazzi and Herrada dropped Rabottini, with the peloton 22 seconds down.  Pirazzi nearly took a wrong turn in the closing kilometers, while Herrada attacked.  Both were caught in the final kilometer, which cued Tiralongo and Scarponi to accelerate.

Hesjedal moves into 1st in the GC, 15 seconds ahead of Tiralongo, and 17 seconds ahead of Rodriguez.

Photos from SteepHill.

Miguel Rubiano (Androni Giocattoli) took the solo win in Porto Sant’Elpidio on stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia.  Adriano Malori (Lampre – ISD), Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana), and Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp) finished 1:10 down from Rubiano.  The main peloton finished 1:51 down.

Rubiano, Malori and Golas were the first riders to attack, 40km into the race.  Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Jack Bauer (Garmin-Barracuda) and Luke Roberts (Saxo Bank) joined the group shortly thereafter to form a break of 6.  Rubiano attacked 45km from the finish line, splintering the group.  Malori, Golas, Benedetti and Dyachenko were part of the first chase group while Bauer, Roberts and Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) were in the second.  With 27km left to race, Rubiano held one minute over the chasing group, and 4:33 ahead of the peloton.

Malori moved into 1st place in the GC – Golas is in 2nd place, 15 seconds down, while Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin – Barracuda) is in 4th, 17 seconds down.  Rubiano moved into 4th place in the GC, 30 seconds down.  Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Roman Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) were unable to complete the stage, and dropped out of the race.  Overnight GC leader, Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) finished 127th, 15:40 down from Rubiano.

Photos from SteepHill.

Mark Cavendish (Sky) took the bunch sprint win in Fano, crossing the line ahead of Matthew Goss (Orica GreenEdge), Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan), Robert Hunter (Garmin – Barracuda), and Sacha Modolo (Colnago – CSF Inox).

Pier Paolo De Negri (Farnese Vini – Selle Italia), Alessandro de Marchi (Androni Giocattoli) and Olivier Kaisen (Lotto-Belisol) with his teammate, Brian Bulgac, formed the day’s break.  They built up a 6 minute lead over the peloton, but Garmin-Barracuda kept a close eye on their gap.  They held a lead ahead of the peloton for 170km – 35km from the line, De Marchi put in a solo attack but was caught eventually by Liquigas-Cannondale and Astana.  The pace dropped Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda), Thor Hushovd (BMC), Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli), and Juan José Haedo (Saxo Bank) off the back.  Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) attacked with 3.5km remaining, but was caught by Sky.  Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin – Barracuda) still holds the GC lead ahead of his teammates, Robert Hunter and Ryder Hesjedal.  Goss sits in 4th, 13 seconds down – Cavendish moves up to 5th because of the time bonus.

Photos from SteepHill.

Garmin-Barracuda marked the fastest team time trial of the day, rounding the 32.2km course around Verona in 37:04.  Katusha finished 5 seconds down in 2nd place, and Astana took 3rd, 22 seconds down.  Taylor Phinney (BMC) was unable to maintain his GC lead, slipping back multiple times during the team time trial – BMC finished 10th, 31 seconds down.  Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin – Barracuda) currently holds the GC lead, ahead of teammates Tyler Farrar and Robert Hunter.

Photos from SteepHill.

Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar) won the final stage of 4 Jours de Dunkerque, sprinting ahead of John Degenkolb (Argo-Shimano) and Danilo Napolitano (Acqua & Sapone).  Side note, I couldn’t find the photo finish of Pelucchi’s win!

Sebastien Chavanel (Europcar), David Tanner (Saxo Bank), Nico Sijmens (Cofidis) and Pieter Vanspeybrouck (TopSport Vlaanderen) were the first riders off the front, quickly opening up a 3 minute lead on the 176km race between Béthune and Dunkerque.  As the peloton made it onto the finishing circuits around Dunkerque, Andrey Grivko (Astana) and Francesco Reda (Acqua & Sapone) attempted to bridge the now 2 minute gap.  The break was now 6 rider deep, but an acceleration from Chavanel caused Vanspeybrouck to drop off the back.  20km left to race, the gap was at 30 seconds – they were caught with 6km left to race.  Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur – Sojasun) secured overall victory for the race, with Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma – Quick Step) 42 seconds down, followed by John Degenkolb (Argos Oil – Shimano) in 3rd, 45 seconds down.

Photo from Cycling News.

Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEdge) won the bunch sprint in Horsens, narrowly avoiding a huge crash involving Mark Cavendish (Sky) and a handful of other riders.  Juan Jose Heado (Saxo Bank) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Barracuda) finishing 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Alfredo Balloni (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), Mads Christensen (Saxo Bank), Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM), Reto Hollenstein (NetApp), Miguel Mínguez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Barracuda) formed the day’s break – the 6 riders escaped after 12km of racing, reached a maximum gap of 3:25.  Balloni lead over the only categorized climb of the day, the Ejer Bavnehøj – he retains the mountain’s classification jersey for one more day.  With 32km remaining in the stage, their gap was down to 34 seconds.  Christensen attacked with 30km remaining, opening up a 25 second gap over the other 5 riders, who were just 8 seconds ahead of the peloton.  24.3km left to race FDJ-BigMat caught Christensen, and closed down the rest of the breakaway.  Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) placed an attack, opening up a small, 13 second lead, but sat up with 11.5km remaining, with the peloton breathing down his neck.  Coming into the final corner, Nikolas Maes (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) attempted to jump clear, but Sky kept his lead in check.  As Goss opened up his sprint, Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) swung to the right, taking out Cavendish, causing the crash.

Taylor Phinney (BMC) retains his pink jersey, despite bring caught up in the crash – Geraint Thomas (Sky) is still in 2nd, 9 seconds down, followed by Alex Rasmussen (Garmin – Barracuda) in 3rd, 13 seconds down.

26:56 – Ferrari attempts to jump 2 lines, no doubt, causing the crash.

Photos from SteepHill.

Two-time cyclocross world champion, Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), took his first victory on the road on stage 4 of 4 Jours de Dunkerque, winning in Cassel.  Carlos Betancur (Acqua & Sapone) took 3rd, while Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) rounded off the podium for 3rd.

Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) put in an attack on the first lap of the finishing circuit, dragging 9 riders along with him: Arnaud Molmy (Véranda Rideau-Super U), Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana), Massimo Codol (Acqua & Sapone) with teammate Francesco Reda, Damien Gaudin (Europcar) and Mathieu Sprick (Argos-Shimano).  They built up a lead, but were shut down by the peloton in the later laps.  Muravyev and Gaudin attacked with 30km remaining – the duo was joined by Terpstra but Gaudin soon dropped the others, pursuing the lead solo.  Back in the peloton, Stybar attacked with teammate Jérôme Pineau and Voeckler.  Gaudin was swept up by a new lead group – Davy Commeyne (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) and Laurent Pichon (Bretagne-Schuller) also placed attacks but Stybar’s attack on the final ascent up Mont Cassel dropped everyone.  Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur – Sojasun) holds the GC lead, 43 seconds ahead of Stybar, and 51 seconds ahead of John Degenkolb (Argos – Shimano).

Photo from Cycling News.

Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur – Sojasun) took the win in Poperinge Reningelst, outsprinting his breakaway teammates to cross the line first.  Kevin Lalouette (Roubaix Lille Metropole) and Benoit Jarrier (Veranda Rideau – Super U) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Jarrier Benedict (Veranda Curtain Super-G) was the first rider to attack in the day, 19km from the start.  He was joined by David Boucher (FDJ-BigMat), Engoulvent, Lalouette with teammate Jonathan Thiré, and Sven Vandousselaere (Topsport Vlaanderen).  They reached a maximum lead of 8:25 92km into the race and held their advantage until the very end.  Engoulvent moves into 1st place in the GC, followed by Jarrier, 1:19 down, and previous GC leader, John Degenkolb (Argos – Shimano), 1:26 down.

Photo from Cycling News.