Tour of California 2017 – Stage 2 [LAST 13 KM]

May 15, 2017

Tour of California 2017 – Stage 2 – Modesto – San Jose – 143 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.

Rafal Majka won Monday’s second stage of the Amgen Tour of California, taking the win out of a select four-man group outside of San Jose. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider narrowly beat LottoNL-Jumbo’s George Bennett at the line, with Ian Boswell (Team Sky) claiming third ahead of Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data).

Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) led a larger selection of GC hopefuls across the line 37 seconds later, with the likes of Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) and Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) in the group as well.

Bennett spurred the decisive move out of the peloton on the Mt. Hamilton climb, pulling Majka, Boswell and Morton along to link up with Cannondale-Drapac’s Toms Skujins, UnitedHealthcare’s Daniel Jaramillo and Dimension Data’s Scott Thwaites, the last survivors of the early break. Jaramillo and Thwaites were dropped before long, but Skujins stayed in contention with the others until taking a nasty fall on the steep descent that followed the Quimby Road climb. He ultimately abandoned the race.

Majka now leads the Tour of California with a two-second advantage over Bennett, while Boswell sits in third, 14 seconds down.

“I felt really strong today. We all worked together well and I knew we were in the right move because we were all strong guys,” said Majka. “In the end I didn’t want to miss the sprint, so I went early, but was strong enough to stay in front. This is my first win for Bora-Hansgrohe, which is really special to me, and I dedicate it to my daughter, who was born three months ago. Thanks also to my team mates – we have a great spirit and always work together well.”

How it unfolded

The climber-friendly stage saw aggressive racing throughout the day. The battle for the breakaway was fierce, with the day’s main escape only getting clear after 35 kilometres.

Skujins, Thwaites, Jaramillo, Danny Van Poppel (Team Sky), Chris Hamilton (Team Sunweb) (Dimension Data) and Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) formed the six-man breakaway as the road began to tilt upward at a gentle gradient toward the first categorised climb of the day.

Jaramillo showed his intent in the mountains classification battle early, grabbing the KOM points over the first climb, and then the second, and then the third. Hamilton was the first to drop from the break on the lumpy profile, with Van Poppel following soon after. Then Tanner Putt lost touch, leaving a trio of riders out front.

Skujins began to show himself as the strongest rider in the break on the hors categorie Mt. Hamilton. He dropped Thwaites and Jaramillo going over the top as Majka led the key move out of the pack behind. Overnight race leader Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) was dropped, as were a number of other sprinters.

Majka’s group quickly tracked down Thwaites and Jaramillo and then joined up with Skujins. That made for seven riders in the lead: Skujins, Jaramillo, Thwaites, Boswell, Morton, Majka and Bennett.

Seven became five on the early slopes of the short but very steep Quimby Rd. climb as Jaramillo and Thwaites lost touch. The peloton behind fell to pieces with the high speeds and lumpy profile, with dozens of riders losing touch from the main chase group as the likes of Cannondale-Drapac’s Andrew Talansky and BMC’s Brent Bookwalter pushed to limit their losses to the escapees.

The remaining quintet stayed mostly together on the ascent before Majka made a move near the summit, taking the KOM points going over the top. The Pole then shot off down a tricky, high-speed descent, with the other four escapees in pursuit.

The descent proved costly for Skujins, who hit the deck very hard rounding a bend. The Latvian struggled to remount, appearing dazed in the road, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the riders in the chasing group half a minute later. He got back into the saddle eventually and pedalled on for another few minutes before climbing off and pulling out of the race.

Up front, Bennett, Boswell and Morton rejoined Majka to make for a four-man lead group. Cannondale pushed the pace in the 20-man chase group, but the quartet took nearly a minute into the last 10 kilometres, working well together to hold off the pursuit.

Even on the uphill drag to the line, the four riders kept the advantage relatively steady, holding their fire until the final kilometre. Majka set the pace through the flamme rouge. Boswell made a probing attack that Majka immediately shut down, and then Morton made a dig in earnest, but Bennett closed the gap and then launched an attack of his own. Only Majka could follow.

Majka took the lead rounding the final bend and looked to have the energy for a clear win at the line but Bennett did not give up. He rode Majka very close in the last hundred metres but couldn’t quite come past, with Majka taking the victory and the yellow jersey at the line.

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

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 7:29:14
2 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:02
3 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:00:14
4 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:16
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:48
6 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
7 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
9 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
10 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
11 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
12 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
13 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:53
14 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:55
15 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
16 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:00:58
17 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:01:02
18 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:11
19 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:01:25
20 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
21 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:03:11
22 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:03:48
23 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data 0:04:42
24 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:04:43
25 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:04:45
26 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:47
27 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
28 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
29 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
30 Javier Megias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
31 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:05:11
32 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:05:31
33 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:05:53
34 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:08:00
35 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:56
36 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:11:06
37 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
38 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling
39 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:12:45
40 Matteo Dal Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
41 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac
42 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
43 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
44 Matti Breschel (Den) Astana Pro Team
45 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
46 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:13:03
47 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:13:09
48 Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors 0:13:31
49 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:15:21
50 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
51 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:04
52 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:16:25
53 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:16:38
54 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:17:51
55 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
56 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 17:52:00
57 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
58 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
59 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
60 Travis Mccabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
61 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors 0:17:53
62 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:17:55
63 Michael Morkov (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:17:56
64 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
65 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
66 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
67 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
68 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
69 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
70 Arman Kamyshev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
71 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
72 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
73 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
74 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
75 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb
76 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
77 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data
78 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
79 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
80 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
81 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
82 Sean Bennett (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
83 Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team
84 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:18:16
85 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:18:47
86 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:18:51
87 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:18:57
88 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky 0:19:06
89 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky 0:19:57
90 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:20:15
91 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:20:43
92 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:20:49
93 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team 0:20:53
94 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
95 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
96 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
97 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Sunweb
98 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
99 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:20:57
100 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
101 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
102 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
103 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
104 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
105 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
106 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
107 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
108 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
109 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
110 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
111 Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
112 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
113 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
114 Yousif Mirza Alhammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates
115 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo
116 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
117 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
118 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:21:19
119 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
120 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:21:23
121 Ben Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:21:26
122 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:21:28
123 Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:21:52
124 Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data 0:21:55
125 Andrea Guardini (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:22:05
126 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
127 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:22:12
128 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
129 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:22:16
130 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:22:58
131 Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:23:23