Mancebo defies conditions for Tour of California win

Posted: Monday 16th February 2009 | 10:09

SPAIN'S Francisco Mancebo won the first stage of the Tour of California as driving rain caused havoc in the peleton.

This was not the sunshine advertisement for America's Golden state as shivering riders crosse the finished line in teeming rain in Santa Rosa.

TLance Armstrong later described it as ‘maybe one of the toughest days I've had on a bike' - his misery compounded by a heavy fall and an untimely puncture.

The conditions were so bad that race director Jim Birrell declared times for the overall classification after just 130km of the 173km stage.

Mancebo was excluded from the Tour de France in 2006 because his name had been linked to the Operation Puerto doping scandal.

He was suspended by his AG2R team the same year but denies reports he retired.

"I raced in 2007 for Relax and in 2008 in Portugal," he said. "Before I was under a lot of stress but today, it's different.

"I'm very happy now. The whole world has seen this win and I have nothing else to say about the past. I'm just happy and proud of what I did today."

Olympic champion, Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, who started the day in the yellow jersey after his prologue win, pulled out of the race after suffering from a fever

But Saxo Bank teammate Carlos Sastre, the reigning Tour de France champion, will continue despite suffering a nasty fall.

Monday's 186km second stage takes the racers from Sausalito to Santa Cruz, crossing the Tour's top postcard landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.