Canadian Leah Kirchmann wins Stage 2 of Amgen Tour in SLT

People lined the 25-mile Amgen race course from Heavenly to Meyers on Saturday, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the top women cyclists as they quickly passed by.

There were great spectating opportunities, and many locals and visitors took advantage of them, from Ski Run Blvd, along Pioneer Trail to South Upper Truckee.

The course was much different that Friday's trip around the lake, but still a tough one with plenty of climbs, downhills and turns.

After two trips around the course, Canadian Leah Kirchmann emerged the victor, just edging out American Lauren Komanski.

Friday's winner, Katie Hall, was in the hunt to repeat as the stage winner. Her United Healthcare teammates surrounded her during the last 5km, helping Hall to protect her lead. But, by the last 1km, her teammates lost steam, and Hall was left alone. She ended up in third.

Stage 2 Women Top – 3
· FIRST— Leah Kirchmann (CAN), Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies (USA)
· SECOND – Lauren Komanski (USA), Twenty16 p/b Sho-Air (USA)
· THIRD – Trixi Worrack (GER); Velocio-SRAM (GER)

29-year-old Lauren Komanski from Winston-Salem, NC is the leader after the first two stages of Amgen's Women's Tour, both of which were in South Lake Tahoe.

"The whole team rode so great today," said Komanski. "I just had to do one effort at the end. Yesterday was nerve wracking."

After both stages, the top ten:
1 KOMANSKI Lauren T16 USA 5h08'18" 00"
2 WORRACK Trixi VEL GER 5h08'21" 03"
3 HALL Katharine A UHC USA 5h08'28" 10"
4 KIRCHMANN Leah OPW CAN 5h08'30" 12"
5 AMIALIUSIK Alena VEL BLR 5h08'38" 20"
6 OLIVEIRA Flavia ALE BRA 5h08'47" 29"
7 STEPHENS Lauren TIB USA 5h08'54" 36"
8 JACKSON Alison T16 CAN 5h08'55" 37"
9 ALBRECHT Lex OPW CAN 5h09'06" 48"
10 DVORAK Andrea T16 USA 5h09'15" 57"

Saturday's Jersey Winners
· Amgen Leader Jersey – Lauren Komanski (USA), Twenty16 p/b Sho-Air (USA)
· Lexus Queen of the Mountain (QOM) Jersey – Kirsti Lay (CAN), Canada National Team (CAN)
· Visit California Sprint Jersey – Leah Kirchmann (CAN), Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies (USA)
· SRAM Best Young Rider Jersey – Hannah Barnes (GBR), UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team (USA) – Note, this is H. Barnes’ second day wearing the Best Young Rider jersey

Top Ten Teams:

1 TWENTY 16 p/b SHO-AIR
2 VELOCIO – SRAM
3 OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES
4 TEAM TIBCO – SVB
5 ALE CIPOLLINI
6 UNITED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL
7 COLAVITA/BIANCHI p/b FINE COOKING
8 CANADA NATIONAL TEAM
9 ITAU SHIMANO LADIES POWER TEAM
10 BMW P/B HAPPY TOOTH DENTAL

Heavenly Mountain Resort's parking lot at the California base was the scene of both days of racing as well as a festival. Within 30 minutes of the end of the race, crews were quickly packing up to move the operations to Sacramento for Sunday's 34 mile race. The Amgen Tour for men gets underway in Sacramento on Sunday as well. They will race 126.2 miles.