Tour of California: Huffman takes second win in Pasadena

In theory, Evan Huffman and his Rally Cycling team weren't even supposed to be in the Amgen Tour of California for it's inaugural WorldTour edition because of UCI rules that say only WorldTour and Pro Continental teams are eligible.

But an exception granted for the first-year WorldTour event allowed the race to invite US Continental teams Rally Cycling and Jelly Belly-Maxxis, and Huffman parlayed the opportunity into two stage wins and the jersey for the most courageous rider.

Huffman scored his first stage win on day 4 in Santa Clarita after he and teammate Rob Britton infiltrated the day's breakaway and the finished first and second. The 27-year-old from El Dorado Hills, California, scored his second win of the week on Saturday during the final stage finish in downtown Pasadena.

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"I feel exhausted," Huffman said in the post-race press conference. "I felt actually pretty bad at the start today, but it was our plan to go in the breakaway again and try and upset the field sprint. I feel really, really good, and I'm kind of in disbelief that I was able to do it two times."

Huffman was joined in the Saturday's breakaway once again by Britton – who won the most courageous jersey for his long solo breakaway during the Queen stage on Thursday – Team Sky's David Lopez, Cofidis' Nicolas Edet and Dimension Data's Lachlan Morton.

The powerful quintet was able to hold off the bunch once again to spoil the day for the sprinters and their teams, allowing Morton to regain the Best Young Rider jersey that he lost the day before after suffering a mechanical right out of the start house.

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