Benjamin King emerges as winner of Amgen Tour's Stage 2

The sprinters’ teams were stunned Monday at the Amgen Tour of California as a tenacious two-man breakaway succeeded with Ben King taking top honors in stage 2. The 27-year-old Cannondale rider timed his sprint perfectly to come past Rally’s Evan Huffman in the final meters to win the 148.5km stage and earn the GC lead in Santa Clarita. It was only his third career pro win, and the first American win at the Amgen Tour in two years.

“I know Evan is a pretty quick sprinter — he smoked me in both of the king of the mountain sprints, so I was hesitant to let it come down to a sprint because I couldn’t drop him on the climbs,” King said. “Then we both fully committed to making the break stick to the finish, and I was able to come around him in the end.”

The end of Stage 5 will be at Heavenly Resort's Main Lodge in South Lake Tahoe Thursday afternoon.

Stage 2, top 10
1. Benjamin KING, CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING TEAM, in 3:52:09
2. Evan HUFFMAN, RALLY CYCLING, at :00
3. Alexander KRISTOFF, TEAM KATUSHA, at :08
4. Peter SAGAN, TINKOFF, at :08
5. Niccolo BONIFAZIO, TREK – SEGAFREDO, at :08
6. Danny VAN POPPEL, TEAM SKY, at :08
7. Patrick BEVIN, CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING TEAM, at :08
8. Nathan HAAS, DIMENSION DATA, at :08
9. Bryan COQUARD, DIRECT ENERGIE, at :08
10. Marco CANOLA, UNITEDHEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM, at :08

Top-10 overall
1. Benjamin KING, CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING TEAM, in 8:12:34
2. Evan HUFFMAN, RALLY CYCLING, at :08
3. Peter SAGAN, TINKOFF, at :14
4. Alexander KRISTOFF, TEAM KATUSHA, at :20
5. Daniel EATON, UNITEDHEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM, at :21
6. William BARTA, AXEON – HAGENS BERMAN, at :21
7. Sindre SKJOESTAD LUNKE, TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN, at :23
8. Niccolo BONIFAZIO, TREK – SEGAFREDO, at :24
9. Bryan COQUARD, DIRECT ENERGIE, at :24
10. Danny VAN POPPEL, TEAM SKY, at :24

Along with King and Huffman, the day’s early breakaway included William Barta (Axeon Hagens Berman) and Sindre Lunke (Giant – Alpecin). They faced a tough route with 3,444 meters (11,300 feet) of climbing, courtesy of three category 2 climbs, and one category 1.

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