Horner wins Tour of California

Los Angeles - American Chris Horner, who led the race for the final five days, won the Tour of California on Sunday after finishing the eighth stage in the main group.

The 39-year-old, the oldest rider in the event, held off compatriot and team mate Levi Leipheimer by 38 seconds for the overall title.

American Tom Danielson finished third overall, trailing Horner by two minutes 45 seconds.

"It's just been a fantastic week for me and the RadioShack team," said Horner, a 17-year professional who finished 10th overall in the 2010 Tour de France.

With a solo win in Wednesday's stage four in San Jose, the first of the event's two mountaintop finishes, Horner grabbed a 75-second advantage over Leipheimer in the overall standings.

Although Leipheimer, a three-time Tour of California champion, reduced that deficit to 38 seconds by placing second in the stage six individual time trial, where Horner finished sixth, he was unable to make up any further ground.

Matthew Goss of Australia won the final 129.1 kilometre (80.2 mile) road stage from Santa Clarita to Thousand Oaks on Sunday after a mass sprint in two hours 56 minutes 39 seconds.

Peter Sagan of Slovakia, winner of stage five, finished second with New Zealander Greg Henderson close behind in third after both riders recorded the same time.

Goss, winner earlier this year in Milan-San Remo, moved to the front over the final metres of the concluding five laps near the headquarters of the race's title sponsor.

"It's a great way to finish off a week," said Goss, who also claimed a stage of Paris-Nice and six others wins this season. "The plan was to do the sprint for me and we came away with a win."

The eight-day Tour of California was trimmed to seven days before veteran rider Horner finally emerged triumphant.

The sixth edition of the gruelling event was scheduled to begin on May 15 in South Lake Tahoe, California but an unseasonal snow storm forced the cancellation of the opening stage.

The second stage, originally set to begin at Squaw Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, was then shortened by more than 80km because of heavy rain in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Stage 8

1. Matthew Goss (AUS/HTC) 2hr 56min 39sec, 2. Peter Sagan (SVK) same time, 3. Gregory Henderson (NZL) s.t., 4. Oscar Freire (ESP) s.t., 5. Kevin Lacombe (CAN) s.t., 6. Taylor Phinney (USA) s.t. 7. Jure Kocjan (SLO) s.t., 8. Ken Hanson (USA) s.t., 9. Anibal Borrajo (ARG) s.t., 10. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG) s.t. ... 65. Chris Horner (USA) s.t.

Final overall standings

1. Chris Horner (USA/RadioShack) in 23 hr 46min 41sec, 2. Levi Leipheimer (USA) at 38secs, 3. Thomas Danielson (USA) 02:45, 4. Christian Vandevelde (USA) 03:18, 5. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) 03:23, 6. Laurens Ten Dam (NED) 03:26, 7. Rory Sutherland (AUS) 04:12, 8. Andy Schleck (LUX) 04:33, 9. Steve Morabito (SUI) 04:50, 10. Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) 06:16

...

22. George Hincapie (USA) 10:43, 33. David Zabriskie (USA) 19:12, 35. Peter Sagan (SVK) 20:09, 56. Oscar Freire (ESP) 34:59, 93. Taylor Phinney (USA) 57:50.