KEY POINTS:
New Zealander Greg Henderson thought he had beaten Australian Graeme Brown in a sprint finish to win the crash-marred stage one of the Tour of California cycle race yesterday.
Brown and Henderson escaped from a massive pack finish in the 156.2km road stage from Sausalito to Santa Rosa, clocking four hours 17 minutes 19 seconds.
After examining a video, race judges awarded the win to Brown -- by four centimetres.
"I thought I won but I was just told that I didn't win. I am devastated. I don't know what to say," said Henderson who rides for the German T-Mobile team.
"Normally sprinters know, but I got told around the corner (I won) and I was like, 'Yesssss'.
"Two minutes later, they said Brown got it and I was pissed. I had to take a couple of minutes to compose myself actually."
Allan Davis of Australia was third in the same time.
The other New Zealander in the event, Heath Blackgrove placed 28th for his Toyota United Pro team, with the same time as Browne and Henderson.
On general classification, Blackgrove is 25th while Henderson, despite his second, is 37th after a poor prologue on Sunday.
American Levi Leipheimer finished 50th in the stage in the same time to retain a one-second race lead over first-year American pro Jason Donald.
Benjamin Jacques-Maynes, also from the United States, is third overall, trailing by five seconds.
Leipheimer, the former Tour of Germany winner who was riding into his hometown, crashed on the second of three 5km finishing circuits and finished more than one minute behind the winner.
Race judges, however, made a discretionary ruling and gave Leipheimer and the several dozen other riders in the crash the same time.
- NZPA
