Thousand Oaks, CA - The final climbing stage of the Amgen Tour of California was one where a break with the right mix could've stayed away. But when Viachislav Ekimov (Discovery) was unable to bridge to a strong break in which all the other major teams, including the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis with Mike Jones, were represented, it became apparent that everything would come back together for a sprint.

Just when it seemed CSC had the pack under control to set up Stuart O'Grady, Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) made a desperate solo attempt to win the stage that would ultimately fall 50 meters. Things quickly broke down on the wide streets coming into the finishing stretch.

"I was well positioned near the front, then all the sudden I was swarmed by 30 guys," Greg Henderson said. "Everybody decided they were a sprinter today."

On the flip side, Gord Fraser actually benefitted from the chaos. "I was pretty far back coming in, but I was able to move up when the pack spread out across the road."

Fraser found his way to the line in fourth place, behind T-Mobile sprinter Olaf Pollack, Phonak's Robbie Hunter and Fred Rodriguez of Davitamon-Lotto.

Notes

Nathan O'Neill finished safely in the bunch to retain his 5th place position in the general classification.

Mike Jones abandoned in the feed zone sufffering dehydration, after his ill-fated break was absorbed.