Scott Moninger Wins First Stage in Tour of Palm Springs Bicycle Race

Scott Moninger of Team Crest won the first stage of the Tour of Palm Springs bicycle race Friday in Palm Springs, a 4.2-mile hill climb, with a time of 22 minutes 8.59 seconds.

Norm Alvis of 7-Eleven was second and Jay Vondershe of Team Montgomery third. Andy Bishop arrived from Europe just hours before the start, without sleep or a bicycle, but borrowed a bike and finished fourth for the Dutch PDM team.

Moninger’s victory kept him in the lead of the California Classics series, of which the Palm Springs event is the final. Greg Oravetz of Coors Light, U.S. professional road racing champion and second in the series, finished 18th in Friday’s hill climb.

Greg LeMond, winner of the Tour de France last summer, had been scheduled to compete this weekend but missed Friday’s stage while awaiting the birth of a child.

The second stage, a 75-mile road race, will start this morning at 8:45 at Sunrise Park, and the final stage, a downtown criterium, will begin at 11:45 Sunday morning, preceded at 10 by a women’s criterium.