Team Giant-Alpecin started the Amgen Tour of California with a 6th and 9th for Zico Waeytens and Koen de Kort on Stage 1. Zico will be the first to wear the white jersey for being the best young rider.

The flat course of the first stage, with start and finish in Sacramento, CA, was destined to become a sprint finish. Four riders formed the break of the day, with a maximum gap of almost seven minutes. The escapees were taken in by entering the final circuits as a bunch sprint looked inevitable.

After conducting most of the chase work, a perfect lead-out by team Etixx – Quickstep was rewarded by Mark Cavendish, who won the sprint. Waytens sprinted to a nice 6th position, just in front of de Kort, who finished the stage at 9th.

“Our plan was to focus on a sprint with Zico. Due to a hectic finale we had to use our strengths too early to stay in position. Therefore, the lead-out did not worked out as we have planned and we took 6th and 9th, which is not too bad,“ said coach Aike Visbeek after the stage.