Hall wins Tour of California Women's Race opener at Heavenly Mountain Resort

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Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare) out-kicked Alena Amialiusik (Velocio-SRAM) to win the opening stage of the Amgen Tour of California Women's Race Friday at Lake Tahoe. Hall, a resident of Oakland, California, classified her win as the biggest of her career.

"A UCI race in Northern California is really awesome," Hall said. "My teammates were all over everything. I got to just relax and keep my legs for the end, and they were good today."

The cold temperatures and snow that fell the night before the race reminded many of the ill-fated Tahoe leg of the 2011 men's race. By the time the riders showed up at the start, temperatures had climbed into the 40s and the previous night's snow was barely in sight.

Crowds lined the downhill start as the race dropped riders out of Heavenly Resort into South Lake Tahoe. Wet roads made for slow going at first, but it was not long before the sun emerged and temperatures climbed into the mid-50s.

The peloton stayed together until the first QOM at Emerald Bay 25 km into the race. Sarah Storey (Pearl Izumi-Sports Tours International) and Christie Lay (Canadian National Team) attacked up the final segment of the QOM and established a 15 second gap. Lay took the QOM points and rejoined the field after the QOM kite, leaving Storey to continue on her own.

"[Lay] dropped back and I felt really strong so I decided to stay there," Storey said. "Eventually I was nearly brought back, but another Canadian rider joined me, and we built out lead up to two minutes at one point."

Allison Beveridge (Canadian National Team) joined forces with Storey, and the pair proceeded to pad their time gap. Beveridge took the sprint points in Tahoe City, and the duo kept plowing ahead through the north shore of Lake Tahoe.

As Beveridge and Storey started south toward the finish, the field took up the chase and proceeded to reel in the leaders. The break's gap evaporated as riders climbed toward the second QOM at Spooner lake.

"It was a longer day than I thought, but we knew on this course anything could go, and potentially stay," Beveridge said. "It probably wasn't quite a big enough group do do that, but to get the sprint jersey and have representation in a break is a good way to start off the race."

Storey took the second QOM of the day, and the field absorbed the leaders shortly after summiting Spooner Lake. The peloton flew down toward the finish in South Lake Tahoe, and a handful of attacks were quickly brought back.

The final ascent cut through a steep residential neighborhood complete with 15-20 percent grades and Swiss style ski chalets. The climb whittled the lead group down to eight riders, and then four. The final selection included Hall, Amialiusik, and Twenty16-ShoAir's Andrea Dvorak and Lauren Komanski.

Dvorak and Komanski traded attacks, but it was Amialiusik who made the decisive move. Amialiusik attacked through the final steep grade and only Hall could respond.

"I was sitting on her wheel through the final flat section," Hall said. "It goes up a little with 400 meters and I attacked there. I got a little gap and I just hung it to the end."

Hall took the win and put on the yellow leader's jersey, while Storey holds the climbers jersey and Beveridge leads the sprint competition. Hanna Barnes (UnitedHealthcare) currently has the jersey for best young rider.

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