Team Sky's Sir Bradley Wiggins held on to win the 2014
Tour of California on a memorable day which also saw Mark Cavendish sprint to
victory in Thousand Oaks.
Wiggins never looked troubled on the concluding day of
action and could afford to sit back as his British compatriot surged to a
second stage win.
Wiggins rolled home in a sizeable front group after
Cavendish had edged out John Degenkolb in a flat-out finish. The Manxman had
been temporarily distanced on the third ascent of the infamous Rock Store
climb, but his Omega Pharma - Quick-Step team-mates worked hard to bring him
back into the fold and Cavendish rewarded the efforts by bolting to his ninth
success of the season.
The British champion timed his sprint to perfection and
wrapped up a hard-fought victory by less than a rim-width at the line.
Wiggins meanwhile, took his first race win of the season
with a 30-second margin over Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp), and after the stage
he was quick to praise his team-mates who had helped make it happen.
He said: "I've said it every day but without those
guys I wouldn't be in this position. You can't do it on your own and as strong
as my performance was individually in the time trial, my team have taken the
strain all week.
"Those young Americans in my team, Joe, Ian and
Danny have done a fantastic job - even today they didn't give up the chase and
came back after they'd been distanced on the climbs. This is a fantastic way to
finish."
The early start to stage eight meant the temperatures
weren't quite as high as they had been on previous days, and after a frantic
opening period, seven riders managed to sneak clear of the bunch.
Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and Jack Bobridge
(Belkin) were the strongest duo from that group and dropped their companions on
the second ascent of the day. With Cannondale and Team Sky setting a fiendish
pace on the front of the bunch though, they were also hauled back on the next
ascent and Wiggins was sitting pretty on the front of the peloton as he crested
the summit for the final time.
Despite a flurry of further attacks, Team Sky rode hard
to keep everything in check, and the race came back together with five kilometres
remaining before Cavendish ended the race as he'd begun it with another rampant
win.
Job done
Immediately after the podium presentation Wiggins
revealed the victory would stand proud on his long list of successes, and he
was delighted to have added another high-profile title to his glittering
palmares.
He added: "This win is right up there in terms of
satisfaction - to come here and have the reception we've had from the American
public - it's been unreal. It's always an honour to wear a yellow jersey and I
set my stall out to come and win the Tour of California, and I wanted to add my
name to the guys who came before me. I've done that now and at 34 years old,
it's still nice to be winning on this stage."
Culled from Skysports
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