Greg Henderson won the third stage of the AMGEM Tour Of California today.
Stage Three was from Auburn to Modesto and saw seven riders in Christian Meier (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), Jan Barta (Team NetApp), Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Cycling), James Driscoll (Jamis-Sutter Home), William Dickeson (Jelly Belly), Michael Creed (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth) and Phillip Gaimon (Kenda/5-hour Energy Pro Cycling) get clear of the peleton which included yellow jersey wearer Ben Swift, who won yesterday's stage.
A lead of six minutes on a 196.2km stage was slowly decreased and Gaimon dropped back as the leading six battled on through the agricultural centre of California which is known for producing almonds.
Christian Meier took the points for the final sprint of the day at Oakdale but with 19km to go, their day at the front was over. Team Sky with Jeremy Hunt (pictured below) doing plenty of work worked with BMC as an echelon of 30-40 riders took to the front.
Jens Voigt crashed with seven kilometres to go as the race started the first of two laps around Modesto. Team Sky again went to the front. Baden Cooke of Saxo Bank went down and Michael Matthews also went down but at the front, Greg Henderson who was supposed to be leading out Ben Swift won the stage.
JJ Haedo of Saxo Bank Sungard was second with Garmin's Thor Hushovd (pictured below) in third.
Stage Four tomorrow is from Livermore to San Jose and is 131.6km long. You can see it on ITV4 and on Eurosport.
Pictures copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/KM