5/20/2010
Rogers' second place grabs overall lead
He may be just 20-years of age but Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) showed why he has such a bright future ahead after securing a Amgen Tour of California stage victory as a neo-professional in the central valley town of Bakersfield. The Liquigas-Doimo rider powered away on the uphill sprint ahead of Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) and race leader David Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions).
"I am happy because when you win you are always happy," said Sagan, who has been hinting at a stage win the entire Tour, coming second in Santa Rosa and winning the sprint from the chasing group in Santa Cruz. "This one was really hard."
Sagan now sits just 15 seconds behind the overall lead, but played down his chances to take home the Tour title on Sunday. "There are some hard stages for the overall classification - I will give it everything I can before the time trial," he said, noting that the time trial may be a bit long for his capabilities.
It was a day of drama all around, as Rogers took advantage of a split in the peloton on the first KOM, which left most of the sprinters behind, to focus on his general classification position over stage wins for Mark Cavendish.
Credit: CyclingNews.com
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