Haedo's $11,000 sprint

There are times in cycling when every rider wishes they could sprint and the Tour of Elk Grove's stage two circuit race was one of them! Argentinean Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home) unleashed a blazing sprint on Saturday to win the $11,000 prize available at the finish line.

The Chicago-based Blackhawks NHL hockey team supplied the Tour of Elk Grove's stage two 150-kilometre circuit race with the $40,000 purse that went directly into the riders' pockets.

"We won some good money today but for me it is more important to have the victory," said Haedo. "We were tired after Fitchburg and tried to use Cascade Classic to prepare for this. So, this is a nice victory. Also because all the great sprinters are here, every one, and that always makes it an important win."

Haedo outpaced Tasmanian Karl Menzies (OUCH p/b Maxxis) and Jonathan Cantwell (Fly V Australia) in the final 200 meters. "It was an aggressive sprint and a little dangerous at the end," said Haedo.

Menzies moved up from third place into the yellow jersey by virtue of capturing a 12-second time bonus for placing second in the stage. He leads the race by eight seconds ahead of stage one winner Tom Zirbel (Bissell) and nine seconds ahead of Brent Bookwalter (BMC) in third place.

Menzies thanked his teammates for a job well done after the OUCH p/b Maxxis squad worked hard at the head of the peloton for the final 30 kilometres. It served to bring back a threatening breakaway of two riders and more importantly set up their sprinter for a podium finish.

"It was an amazing lead-out and I didn't have to do much," Menzies said. "I probably just rode hard for 100 metres and that's all I had to do. Hats off to the team. They did an awesome job today and to get the time bonus and the yellow jersey is what we came here to do. We'll defend it tomorrow with all our might and hopefully we're still in yellow tomorrow night."