Alexis Ryan yesterday sprinted to fourth place on the opening stage of Amgen Tour of California Empowered with SRAM in Elk Grove. The 23 year old was beaten in sprint by Kendall Ryan, (TIB) who now wears the yellow leader jersey going into stage two.

Several small numbered breakaways were able to establish gaps during the stage but for the final 20km the peloton was all together and destined for a bunch sprint.

“We lacked a little bit of experience in the lead out and made a few mistakes in the last kilometre that cost us. I had to jump on another team’s train with 600m to go and then I made the mistake of not launching my sprint early enough,” said a disappointed Ryan after the stage.

“We have to make mistakes to be able to learn, and we’ve learned a few lessons today. Personally I’m disappointed in myself. I want to the kind of rider that can win even when everything goes wrong. I’ll get there, but it takes time.”

Tomorrow is the mountain stage of the tour, starting and finishing in South Lake Tahoe.

“Tomorrow is Kasia’s day! She is our best shot at winning the overall, so we will be riding in support of her and we can’t wait for the stage!” added Ryan.

Meanwhile in Spain Elena Cecchini was CANYON//SRAM Racing’s best placed rider in twelfth position at Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria yesterday. The team will now have a day recovery before starting the four-day stage race, WWT Emakumeen XXXI Bira from 19 to 22 May. The team’s roster will be Alena Amialiusik, Alice Barnes, Hannah Barnes, Elena Cecchini and Tiffany Cromwell.

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