Oakland, CA - Hayden Roulston of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis powered his way from the Embarcadero up to Coit Tower in San Francisco in 5:04:10 to finish in 8th place in the opening Prologue of the Amgen Tour of California. The top 10 was studded with the elite of American cycling, with Santa Rosa resident Levi Leipheimer winning the 1.9 mile stage in 4:53:43.

"I felt good about my ride," Roulston said. "I would've liked a bit better result, but it's just good to get that first day of racing in."

Teammate Gord Fraser also had a strong showing, finishing in 17th place, in a time of 5:09:46. Nathan O'Neill was an early leader of the prologue, with a time of 5:10:38 despite a mishap that put him on the tarmac just 200 meters from the finish. "I had just shifted back into the big chain ring for the final sprint," O'Neill explained. "I stood up to go and the chain slipped. It pitched me a bit awkwardly and the next thing I knew I was falling into the barriers. I think conservatively, I lost at least 10 seconds because of it." He ended up finishing 25th on the stage, just over 17 seconds off of Leipheimer's time.

The Amgen Tour of California continues Monday with an 80.2 mile run from Sausalito to Santa Rosa.

Notes

Health Net Presented by Maxxis was the only non-Pro Tour team to place a rider in the top 10.

The team finished the prologue 5th overall in the team classification.

O'Neill was taken to the hospital for x-rays as a precaution. They were negative.