Sky’s Henderson leads himself out for win in Modesto.

Greg Henderson has to work on his lead-out skills. Or maybe not.

Blasting into Modesto in stage 3, the Team Sky leadout man for golden jersey leader Ben Swift  accelerated so hard that he left everyone behind including his own man Swift.

Nobody in Sky is really complaining too much. The team has now bagged both sprint stages of this year’s Tour of Cali, the snow and wind and rain version. It was California meets Belgium today with cross and head winds galore.

Swift was out of position and a bit blocked so Henderson took care of business. The Mark Cavendish-free HTC-Highroad squad ramped it up for Milan San Remo winner Matthew Goss but it was no go.

Saxo Banks JJ Haedo closed fast, just nipping Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) at the finish with Slovak Peter Sagan (Liquigas) taking fourth.

“At 100 meters there only 10 people left,” said Henderson. ” I was absolutely blown to pieces at the line but I was just lucky.” Smart and lucky and not bad at improvising.

Henderson and his teammate Swift are now on equal time in the overall classification and will pull a dry chicken bone to see who wears the golden jersey. Actually, it’s the Kiwi Henderson who gets the brand-spanking new jersey.

“Another great ride by Sky. We rode honorably to defend the yellow jersey,” said Henderson. ” Swifty just got mixed up.”

Thor Hushovd did his best to close the gap when Oscar Freire (Rabobank) wasn’t up to the task. “There were some splits. Oscar Freire didn’t hold the wheel. I didn’t catch him {Henderson} in the end,” said the world champion from Norway.

Sky goes two for two in the Tour of California but tomorrow brings the first hard climbs. Time for the GC contenders to get to work and the sprinters will watch the action from the back.