Tour of California 2017 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE]

May 18, 2017

Tour of California 2017 – Stage 5 – Ontario – Mt. Baldy – 125,5 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.

Andrew Talansky ended Cannondale Drapac’s two-year wait for a WorldTour win with a hard-fought stage win atop Mt. Baldy at the 2017 Tour of California. The American all-rounder edged out race leader Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) in a close sprint to the line after a select group of podium contenders broke away on the final climb.

George Bennett (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) retained his hopes of winning the overall title by finishing third overall. However, it’s Majka who heads into Friday’s time trial with a slender six-second lead over Bennett. Talansky’s win moved him into fourth, 44 seconds off the Bora rider’s lead.

“When we hit the final climb, I knew I felt good. But when I knew I didn’t have a chance to shake Bennett, Majka and Boswell, I decided to go for the stage win,” said Talansky. “I’ve never been at the front of this finish before. I knew there was that last corner and how I needed to take it.

“I’d prefer to be in the yellow jersey right now but we won the stage today and I’ll enjoy that. Tomorrow we will focus on the time trial. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose and life goes on.”

Majka increased his lead over Bennett after picking up bonus seconds on the line but expressed that he was aiming to add to his stage 2 victory.

“I didn’t win but I think that second was still a good result. I’d like to thank all my teammates for the excellent work they did today. Tomorrow I’ll try to keep the jersey, but it’ll be difficult with Talansky,” said Majka. “I wanted to gain some time today but it wasn’t easy. I didn’t know the finish – there were a lot of corners and with 100m to go I tried to sprint, but Talansky passed me on the left hand side. Congratulations to him on his win. I’m still happy with this second place but tomorrow we need to try to keep the jersey. When we look at the race so far, I’ve been strong and I don’t feel too bad. For the time trial tomorrow it’s 24km and I’ll try to keep the jersey.”

How it unfolded

The queen stage kicked off in Ontario and almost immediately began a gradual climb toward the first of two intermediate sprints located in San Antonio Heights.

A breakaway of 24 riders formed early on with Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin) winning the full points ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe). But as the race headed up and over Glendora Ridge Rd., a climb 9.2km at 6.8% average grade, attacks caused the large group to split and 13 men formed the main move of the day.

Those riders also included Quick-Step Floors Matteo Trentin and Jack Bauer, UnitedHealthcare’s Greg Henderson and Daniel Jaramillo, Rally’s breakaway duo Evan Huffman and Rob Britton, who took one-two in stage 4, were in the mix again. Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky), Lennard Hofstede (Team Sunweb), Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Yoann Bagot (Cofidis) and Artyom Zakharov (Astana) also made the move.

Jaramillo added more points to his mountain classification lead at the top of Glendora Ridge Rd, ahead of Huffman and Machado.

Henderson was the highest placed on GC in that move, in 23rd place at 4:43 behind overall leader Majka. As they raced along the reservoirs of Morris and San Gabriel on the flatter sections of the course, the riders held just over three minutes on the main field.

The route soon kicked up again as they rode onto the base of Glendora Mountain Rd for the start of the second KOM, which is 12.6km at 5.1%.

Britton struck out on his own before Sky’s Peter Kennaugh bridged across. Behind in the peloton, LottoNL-Jumbo were working on keeping everything under control for its GC man Bennett. Showing no effects of yesterday’s ride in the breakaway, Britton rode away from Kennaugh on approach to the KOM with the remnants of the original breakaway one minute in arrears.

Katusha-Alpecin’s Tiago Machado found himself in no man’s land in the chase of Britton as Quick-Step Floors teammates Matteo Trentin and Jack Bauer paced the chase group up the climb. At the KOM point, Evan Huffman and Daniel Jaramillo tested each other’s legs with the later stealing in for more points to all but secure the polka dot jersey. A moment of reprieve followed for Britton, Kennaugh and the chase group with the descent before the brutal ascent of Mt Baldy.

On the lower slopes of Mt. Baldy, what was left of the original breakaway started to splinter while Peter Sagan dropped back to the main field and turned domestique, distributing food and bidons to his teammates. Meanwhile, Britton was looking comfortable at the head of the race as LottoNL-Jumbo continued to drive the pace in the peloton.

As the pace increased in the peloton with the GC teams upping the tempo, Britton’s bid for victory came to an end as he was swept up on the lower slopes. Sep Kuss (Rally) was an early attacker once teammate Britton was caught as the skirmish begun. Dimension Data’s Lachlan Morton was looking strong and likely to launch as the likes of Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) lost contact.

Feeling good, Talanksy took it upon himself to up the speed and forced a selection with Brent Bookwalter, Morton, Bennett, Majka, and Boswell the only riders able to respond. Talansky went again, and the group was slimmed as only Majka and Bennett could maintain contact. Behind, Boswell refused to give in and dug deep to regain contact before Majka jumped clear.

After a delay, Talansksy chased down Majka with Bennett on his wheel and Boswell again fighting to hold onto the leaders. At 1km to go, it was Bennett’s turn to attack, but he couldn’t establish a gap as it became clear it would come down to a four-up sprint.

In the finale, which included two turns and a rough road surface, Talanksy stole the front position into the final corner and sprinted for his first win at the Tour of California, leaving Majka in second place but with his GC lead intact. Bennett crossed the line for third with Boswell fourth and five seconds down. Bookwalter rounded out the top five before the other GC riders made their way across the line.

With the decisive stage 6 Big Bear Lake time trial to come, Talanksy is a real threat to the overall at 44 seconds to Majka. The race leader is confident of holding onto yellow, but another shakeup of the overall is sure to eventuate on the lakeside course.

Results :
1 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 3:43:15
2 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:02
4 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:00:05
5 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:00:08
6 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:20
7 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:27
8 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:40
9 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
10 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:56
11 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
12 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:32
13 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 1:37:00
14 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:59
15 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:02:04
16 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:13
17 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
18 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:27
19 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:03:28
20 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
21 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:03:41
22 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:03:46
23 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
24 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:04:10
25 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:04:38
26 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:04:57
27 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:05:25
28 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:05:40
29 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:50
30 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:07:22
31 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:08:27
32 Javier Megias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
33 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
34 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:09:01
35 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:09:02
36 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:09:28
37 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:10:04
38 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:10:30
39 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
40 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:10:53
41 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data 0:12:19
42 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:35
43 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:16:12
44 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
45 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
46 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:25
47 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
48 Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors
49 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:17:42
50 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:17:55
51 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:18:14
52 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:19:31
53 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:19:33
54 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:19:52
55 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:20:07
56 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:20:33
57 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk 0:21:16
58 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
59 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
60 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
61 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
62 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
63 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:21:32
64 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:21:39
65 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team 0:21:42
66 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
67 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:21:55
68 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
69 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
70 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:22:01
71 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:22:09
72 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:22:25
73 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
74 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data 0:22:27
75 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:22:31
76 Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team 0:22:43
77 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky 0:22:49
78 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky
79 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
80 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
81 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:23:38
82 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:23:56
83 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:25:25
84 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
85 Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
86 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team
87 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
88 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
89 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
90 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky
91 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
92 Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
93 Matteo Dal Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
94 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
95 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
96 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
97 Yousif Mirza Alhammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates
98 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
99 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors
100 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
101 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
102 Ben Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
103 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
104 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
105 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
106 Sean Bennett (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
107 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
108 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
109 Travis Mccabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
110 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
111 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis
112 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team
113 Arman Kamyshev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
114 Matti Breschel (Den) Astana Pro Team
115 Michael Morkov (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
116 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
117 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
118 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
119 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:26:10
120 Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data
121 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:26:14
122 Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 0:26:47
123 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
OTL Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
OTL Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
OTL Andrea Guardini (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
DNF Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data

General Classification after Stage 5 :
1 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 19:47:57
2 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:06
3 Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky 0:00:25
4 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:00:44
5 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:49
6 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:02
7 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:14
8 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:31
9 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 0:01:34
10 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:50
11 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:33
12 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:36
13 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:53
14 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:14
15 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:03:44
16 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:04:22
17 Janier Acevedo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:04:36
18 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:05:14
19 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:06:01
20 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:07:27
21 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:08:32
22 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:09:19
23 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:30
24 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:10:53
25 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:11:00
26 Greg Henderson (NZl) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:12:11
27 Sepp Kuss (USA) Rally Cycling 0:13:38
28 Javier Megias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:14:50
29 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:15:24
30 Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:16:15
31 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Dimension Data 0:17:24
32 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:17:43
33 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:19:53
34 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky 0:20:28
35 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:21:18
36 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:40
37 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:22:43
38 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:22:48
39 Brendan Canty (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:22:51
40 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:27:09
41 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:28:09
42 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:28:35
43 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) Cannondale-Drapac 0:29:30
44 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:30:32
45 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:30:39
46 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:31:44
47 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:36:43
48 Jack Bauer (NZl) Quick-Step Floors 0:37:23
49 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:37:47
50 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:37:58
51 Matteo Dal Cin (Can) Rally Cycling 0:38:16
52 Alexey Vermeulen (USA) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:40:17
53 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:40:51
54 Nick Dougall (RSA) Dimension Data 0:41:00
55 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
56 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:41:10
57 Matti Breschel (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:41:29
58 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:41:37
59 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:42:11
60 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates 0:42:26
61 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:42:37
62 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:42:51
63 Jordan Cheyne (Can) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:42:53
64 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:43:14
65 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Sky 0:43:17
66 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin 0:43:20
67 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
68 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Sky 0:43:24
69 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk 0:43:49
70 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:44:56
71 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team
72 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:44:57
73 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
74 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:45:02
75 Joshua Berry (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:45:09
76 Sean Bennett (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:45:21
77 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors 0:45:33
78 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:45:40
79 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:45:48
80 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team 0:45:54
81 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 0:46:11
82 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
83 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:46:12
84 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky 0:46:20
85 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:46:21
86 Jacob Rathe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:46:28
87 Daniel Eaton (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:46:40
88 Michael Morkov (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:46:42
89 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:46:49
90 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:47:22
91 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:47:27
92 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:47:35
93 Yousif Mirza Alhammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates 0:47:58
94 Travis Mccabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team 0:48:25
95 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:48:46
96 Martin Elmiger (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:48:49
97 Taylor Phinney (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:49:12
98 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:49:13
99 Marko Kump (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:50:16
100 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:50:18
101 Wouter Wippert (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:50:33
102 Gregory Daniel (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:51:06
103 Floris Gerts (Ned) BMC Racing Team 0:51:09
104 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:52:19
105 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:52:20
106 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:52:21
107 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:52:25
108 Miles Scotson (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:52:32
109 Truls Korsaeth (Nor) Astana Pro Team 0:52:47
110 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:52:56
111 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:52:59
112 Lawson Craddock (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:54:30
113 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:55:03
114 David Lozano (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:55:05
115 Arman Kamyshev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:55:07
116 Federico Zurlo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:57:36
117 Ulises Alfredo Castillo Soto (Mex) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 0:58:08
118 Christopher Williams (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk 1:00:25
119 Marco Mathis (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 1:00:28
120 Romain Gioux (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 1:00:34
121 Tyler Farrar (USA) Dimension Data 1:00:59
122 Ben Wolfe (USA) Jelly Belly p/b Maxxis 1:01:15
123 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors 1:01:33