George Bennett wraps up Tour of California glory, Team Sky wins team title
By Mark Ashenden
Last Updated: 21/05/17 10:39am
George Bennett secured overall victory at the Tour of California on Saturday, finishing safely in the seventh and final stage won by Evan Huffman.
Team Sky, led by American fifth-place finisher Ian Boswell, won the team title.
New Zealand's Bennett, riding for LottoNL-Jumbo, just needed to settle in the peloton to wrap up the honours to mark his first WorldTour general classification win, while Rally Cycling's Huffman outsprinted David Lopez (Sky) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis, Solutions Credit) for his second stage win of this year's race.
"It's definitely a big stepping stone for me," Bennett said. "I've been saying I want to get my hands up in the air and win a race. There is a lot of hope to take from this in confidence and backing from my team.
"I want to take this back to Europe and keep racing in the same manner. It's a huge step up and I can start chipping away."
Bennett completed the race in 22 hours, 54 minutes and 38 seconds, 35 seconds ahead of Poland's Rafal Majka riding for Bora-Hansgrohe. American Andrew Talansky was another second behind for Cannondale-Drapac.
Huffman emerged from the breakaway for the second time this week to win the final stage and also tied Daniel Alexander Jaramillo for King of the Mountains points but the Colombian won the jersey based on better finishes on the hardest climbs.
The 77.7-mile stage through three climbs finished in front of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium with the breakaway beating the peloton, which included the top six riders in the overall classification, by 22 seconds.
