Tour of California 2017 – Stage 1 [LAST 10 KM]

May 14, 2017

Tour of California 2017 – Stage 1 – Sacramento – Sacramento – 167 km

The 2017 Amgen Tour of California is a road cycling stage race that is scheduled to take place between 14 and 20 May. It is the 12th edition of the Tour of California and the 22nd event of the 2017 UCI World Tour; the first time that the race has been staged as part of the World Tour.

Marcel Kittel finished off the day-long efforts of his Quick-Step Floors team in style, nailing the bunch sprint in Sacramento to win the stage and first race leader’s jersey over world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe). Elia Viviani (Team Sky) was third.

Team Sky took control of the race as it headed onto the final circuits, setting a steady if not blistering pace through the tricky circuit. But as the other teams fought for position, Quick-Step sat back, watching and waiting for just the right moment to pounce.

That came with half a lap to go when the Belgian team came storming up to the front, and although they briefly relented control inside the final kilometer, they kicked again to deliver Kittel to perfect winning position on the long finishing straightaway.

“I’m very happy how intelligent and also strong my team worked in the end,” Kittel said of his win. “Chapeau to everyone for the great lead out. It was really nice, promising also for the next week. We are all very happy to start the Tour of California like that.”

Kittel and Quick-Step almost made the win look easy, and the German fastman said it was not an unexpected way to start the race.

“It’s not a surprise that maybe the beginning of the race was not super intense,” he said. “It was a really easy stage when you look at the profile. Some teams tried to go in the crosswinds after around 80km, but nothing happened; the wind was not strong enough and the direction was not good enough. So in the end it came down to a sprint.”

How it unfolded

The 167km opening stage started in front of the California state capitol and finished there after a figure-eight jaunt south. The stage featured no KOMs, but it did have two intermediate sprints at 121.5km and at 156.5km when the riders entered the 3.5km finishing circuits in Sacramento.

It didn’t take long for the breakaway to form on the flat roads outside of town, with BMC Racing’s Floris Gerts, UnitedHealthcare’s Jonny Clarke, Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet and Jelly Belly-Maxxis’ Ben Wolfe escaping the bunch and building a lead of two minutes rather quickly.

The gap went up to 2:30 at its maximum point, but the peloton was feeling stingy and kept the advantage pegged at 1:45 throughout most of the escape.

Katusha-Alpecin and Quick-Step Floors took control of the chase with Katusha sending a rider to the front and Quick-Step massing behind him, eventually throwing several riders into the chase as well.

The action heated up briefly when crosswinds that swept across the agricultural fields outside of Sacramento pushed the peloton into echelons, but the winds apparently weren’t strong enough to create havoc as the groups stayed mostly together.

As the race turned back toward Sacramento, however, the crosswinds increased and the race became more animated, with several teams going to the front to try and blow things apart.

The increased pace also started eating into the escapees’ lead, which was down to just 40 seconds with 67km remaining. Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team and the Dutch LottoNL-Jumbo team went to the front, but the peloton eased up before the feedzone and let the gap go out again after having the break in sight.

The leaders had 1:20 with just over 48km remaining and just 5km to the first intermediate sprint, where Gerts took top honours and the three-second time bonus. Quick-Step and Katusha retook the front again, and the gap was down to 40 seconds with about 40km to go.

The peloton had to throttle back the chase a bit to avoid catching the leader too early, but the gap continued to come down. Sensing an imminent catch, Wolfe attacked his three breakaway companions, who didn’t react to the move and let him dangle out front. The Jelly Belly rider stuck with it, pouring everything into the move.

Wolfe’s adventure ended when the others pulled him back with about 19km to go and with an advantage of 40 seconds over the bunch. The quartet started the first of the three closing circuits together, but with the bunch bearing down on the wide roads leading into town and the circuit, their chances didn’t look good.

The quartet held a 10-second gap as they rode under the 1km to go banner, but they faced three circuits after that and were swallowed up by the peloton during the ensuing lap.

From there, Sky, Bora, Quick-Step, Cofidis and Katusha started to fight for position, with Quick-Step eventually gaining the upper hand and launching Kittel to his eighth win of the season and the first leader’s jersey of the 2017 Tour of California.

Results :
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 3:45:35
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
4 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
5 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
6 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
7 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
8 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
9 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
10 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
11 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
12 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Sunweb
13 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
14 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
15 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
16 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:04
17 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
18 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
19 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
20 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
21 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
22 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
23 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
24 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
25 Michael Morkov (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
26 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
27 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
28 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
29 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
30 Matteo Dal Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
31 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
32 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
33 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
34 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
35 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
36 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
37 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team
38 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
39 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
40 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
41 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
42 Arman Kamyshev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
43 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
44 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
45 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
46 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
47 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
48 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
49 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
50 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
51 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
52 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
53 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
54 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
55 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
56 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
57 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
58 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
59 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
60 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
61 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
62 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
63 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
64 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
65 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
66 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
67 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
68 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
69 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
70 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
71 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
72 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
73 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
74 Javier Megias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
75 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data
76 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
77 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
78 Matti Breschel (Den) Astana Pro Team
79 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
80 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
81 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
82 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
83 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
84 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
85 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
86 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
87 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
88 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
89 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky
90 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
91 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
92 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
93 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
94 Taylor Sheldon (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
95 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
96 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
97 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
98 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
99 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
100 Sean Bennett (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
101 Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
102 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
103 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling
104 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
105 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
106 Yousif Mirza Alhammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates
107 Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team
108 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
109 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:24
110 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:26
111 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
112 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:28
113 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:30
114 Ben Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:00:34
115 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:35
116 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling
117 Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:50
118 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:55
119 Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:00:59
120 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
121 Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data 0:01:02
122 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:05
123 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:12
124 Andrea Guardini (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
125 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:14
126 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:19
127 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
128 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:01:23
129 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:02:05
130 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
131 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:02:24
132 Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:02:30
133 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:03:17
134 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
135 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:57
DNS Marco Coledan (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 3:45:25
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:04
3 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:00:06
4 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:00:09
5 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
6 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:10
7 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
8 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
9 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
10 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
11 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
12 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
13 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
14 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Sunweb
15 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
16 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
17 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
18 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:14
19 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
20 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
21 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
22 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
23 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
24 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
25 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
26 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
27 Michael Morkov (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
28 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
29 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
30 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
31 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
32 Matteo Dal Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
33 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
34 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
35 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
36 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
37 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
38 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
39 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
40 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
41 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
42 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
43 Arman Kamyshev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
44 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
45 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
46 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
47 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
48 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
49 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
50 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
51 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
52 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
53 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
54 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
55 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
56 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
57 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
58 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
59 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
60 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
61 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
62 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
63 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
64 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
65 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky
66 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
67 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
68 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
69 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
70 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
71 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
72 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
73 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
74 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
75 Javier Megias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
76 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data
77 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
78 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
79 Matti Breschel (Den) Astana Pro Team
80 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
81 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
82 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
83 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
84 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
85 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
86 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
87 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
88 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
89 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
90 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky
91 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
92 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
93 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
94 Taylor Sheldon (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
95 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
96 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
97 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
98 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
99 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
100 Sean Bennett (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
101 Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
102 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
103 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling
104 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
105 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
106 Yousif Mirza Alhammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates
107 Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team
108 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
109 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:34
110 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:36
111 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
112 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:38
113 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:40
114 Ben Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:00:43
115 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:45
116 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling
117 Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:00
118 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:05
119 Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:01:09
120 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
121 Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data 0:01:12
122 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:15
123 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:22
124 Andrea Guardini (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
125 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:24
126 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:29
127 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
128 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:01:33
129 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:02:15
130 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
131 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:02:33
132 Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:02:40
133 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:03:27
134 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
135 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:04:07