Hesjedal wins final stage of Tour of California

Ryder Hesjedal was originally from Victoria, BC, Canada

Hesjedal wins final stage of Tour of California

THOUSAND OAKS, California — Victoria's Ryder Hesjedal emerged from a four-rider sprint Sunday on the final day of the Tour of California to claim the final stage in 3 hours, 21 minutes and 56 seconds.

American George Hincapie was second in the stage with Carlos Barredo of Spain third.

Meanwhile, Michael Rogers of Australia won the overall Tour of California to claim his second stage race of the year. Rogers sealed the win by finishing eighth in the concluding 134.4-kilometres stage, a four-lap circuit race.

Hesjedal, who last year became the first Canadian in several years to ride in the Tour de France, finished fifth overall in the eight-stage race, one minute and eight seconds behind Rogers.

Rogers, 30, a former three-time world time trial titlist riding for the American HTC-Columbia team, held the race lead for the final four days and was victorious by nine seconds over American David Zabriskie, who placed ninth in the stage.

"Certainly, it was a tough day," said Rogers. "Usually, final circuit races are walks in the park. I was lucky to have two team mates with me early, but I also knew the others would attack."

Levi Leipheimer of the United States, who won the previous three Californa races, finished third, trailing Rogers by 25 seconds after his seventh-place in the final stage.

The top three pushed each other all the way in the waning kilometres, but Zabriskie and Leipheimer were unable to ride clear of Rogers to gain finish-line bonus time.

"I just had to conserve," said Rogers. "I could not worry so much about the others, but I had to make sure Levi and Dave didn’t get away from me."

Rogers, who earlier this season won the Ruta de Sol stage race in Spain, assumed the Tour of California lead over Zabriskie via a tiebreaker after finishing second to Slovakian Peter Sagan in the fifth stage.

A Tour de France race leader in 2007, Rogers maintained his race lead with third place in the sixth and second place in the seventh stages.

The victory also solidified Rogers’ return to the top level of cycling. While leading the Tour de France in 2007 Rogers crashed and fractured his collar bone.