Tour of California 2018 – Stage 7 [FULL STAGE]

May 19, 2018

Tour of California 2018 – Stage 7 – Sacramento : 143 km

With an all-star sprint roster that includes world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors), and Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott), the 2018 Amgen Tour of California has been properly billed as a preview of the coming Tour de France showdown in July. The seven-day WorldTour race, starting Sunday in Long Beach, provides three clear opportunities for the sprinters on stages 1, 5 and 7. A stage 3 finish at Laguna Seca Raceway, where Sagan beat BMC Racing’s Greg Van Avermaet in 2016, should be another opportunity for the punchier fastmen who can make it over the series of short-but-steep climbs near the finish.

Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) made it three sprint stages for three as he powered to victory in Sacramento on the final stage 7 of the Tour of California, topping Sunweb’s Max Walscheid and Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott).

Egan Bernal (Team Sky) cruised in to claim the overall victory of the Tour of California after being ushered through the sunny streets of Sacramento expertly by his teammates.

The Colombian added to his neo-pro season success that also included second place in the Tour de Romandie, the win in the first edition of the Colombia Oro y Paz, the best young rider’s jersey in the Tour Down Under and in Romandie, and two stage wins in California.

“I’m so happy because it’s my first overall win in the WorldTour level,” Bernal said in the post-race press conference.”Today I felt great and the team did a really good all day riding.”

The pan-flat stage was tailor-made for the sprinters, and although a determined breakaway lasted to the end of the penultimate local lap, the fast men chased it down to battle to take the green points jersey off Bernal’s shoulders.

When Team Sky finally ceded the front, it was Mitchelton-Scott who drag-raced with Katusha-Alpecin for control. But it was too far out for the German team’s lead-out, and Quick-Step pulled away with Gaviria in tow.

The lead-out for Gaviria was a bit premature, and Walscheid came within centimetres of the win with a late surge, but the photo-finish swung in favour of the Colombian.

“This one was really close,” Gaviria said in the post-stage press conference. “When I crossed the finish line I thought I was second. But then after the finish they came to me and said, ‘You win.’ OK. I’m really happy, but it was a really good job from the team all week. We were always all together for the sprint, always good position for me in the sprint, and I’m really happy with the week.”

Walscheid, who finished eighth on stage 1 and was caught behind a crash in the stage 5 sprint, said he owed his Saturday result to positioning and effort.

“I had a really good spot in the final laps,” he told Cyclingnews in the finishing straight. “It was super hard fighting, but I was willing to do it and it worked out.”

How it unfolded

Stage 7 is a flat route that finished with circuits around the Capitol complex in downtown Sacramento. The men raced 143km, with one larger loop out of town, and three short finishing circuits on the outskirts of Capitol Park in the downtown area.

There were two intermediate sprints at the 62km mark in Winters and at the start of the finishing circuits.

The GC was very much sewn up after the queen stage with Bernal, who won stage 2 on Gibraltar Road and stage 6 in South Lake Tahoe, leading the way by 1:25 over van Garderen and 2:14 over third-placed Martinez. And so the stage moved into the hands of the sprinter teams.

The all-star cast of sprinters in the field included world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors), and Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott).

In the previous two sprints; stage 1 in Long Beach and stage 5 in Elk Grove, the podiums were identical with Gaviria taking the wins ahead of Ewan and Sagan, so there was no doubt that the other sprinters would want to try for a stage win.

A breakaway of four shot off the front in the opening kilometres that included Neilson Powless (LottoNL-Jumbo), Adam De Vos (Rally), Mikkel Bjerg (Hagens Berman Axeon), Jonny Clarke (UnitedHealthcare). At the 14km mark, they stretched their lead out of one minute.

Katusha-Alpecin did much of the pace-setting during the stage, holding the breakaway at roughly two minutes. The team, working for Kittel, had some assistance from Bora-Hansgrohe and Mitchelton-Scott, working for their sprinters Sagan and Ewan.

In the breakaway, De Vos picked up full points at the intermediate sprint in Winters ahead of Clarke and Powless, but the gap following the sprint then dropped to under two minutes.

The gap was further reduced to 30 seconds after Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) put forth a dig from the peloton. The move didn’t get far, but it caused some nervousness in the field and sprinter teams like Bora-Hansgrohe with Sagan, launched forward.

Although Powless put in an attack ahead of the final circuits, he was brought back in the fold, and the four-men stayed together. Organisers announced that Bjerg would collect the most courageous rider award at the end of the stage. De Vos took the intermediate sprint as they entered the circuits, and they held a 20-second lead.

Their time out front came to an end just ahead of the finish line hearing the bell that signalled one lap to go, as Katusha-Alpecin, Quick-Step Floors, and Mitchelton-Scott stormed passed them in the set-up for the final sprint.

Results :
1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 3:07:39
2 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
3 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Miguel Bryon (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
6 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
7 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
8 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling
9 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
10 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
11 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
12 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
13 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
14 Sean Bennett (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
15 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
17 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
18 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
19 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
20 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Quick-Step Floors
21 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
22 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors
23 Ivo Oliveira (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
24 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
25 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
26 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
27 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
28 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
29 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
30 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
31 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
32 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
33 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky
34 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
35 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
36 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
37 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
38 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
39 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
40 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
41 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
42 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally Cycling
43 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
44 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
45 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
46 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
47 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
48 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
49 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
50 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
51 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
52 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
53 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo
54 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling
55 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
56 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
57 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data
58 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
59 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:16
60 Sepp Kuss (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo
61 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky
62 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team
63 William Barta (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
64 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
65 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
66 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
67 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
68 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
69 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
70 Roger Kluge (Ger) Mitchelton-Scott
71 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
72 Anass Ait El Abdia (Mar) UAE Team Emirates
73 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Quick-Step Floors
74 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
75 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky
76 Ian Boswell (USA) Katusha-Alpecin
77 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
78 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling
79 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
80 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
81 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
82 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
83 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
84 TJ Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
85 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
86 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
87 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
88 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:00:28
89 Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:39
90 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:42
91 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:51
92 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
93 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
94 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
95 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
96 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
97 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:13
98 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb
99 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
100 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
101 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
102 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:01:21
103 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
104 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
105 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
106 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
107 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:01:33
108 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:01:40
109 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:08
110 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:02:26
111 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:02:34
112 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates

Final General Classification :
1 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky 25:34:19
2 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:25
3 Daniel Martinez (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:02:14
4 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:16
5 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 0:02:28
6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:01
7 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally Cycling 0:03:28
8 Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:03:50
9 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:59
10 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:01
11 Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:05:40
12 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:11
13 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:07:03
14 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:07:05
15 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:07:25
16 Robert Britton (Can) Rally Cycling 0:07:33
17 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:07:57
18 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:07
19 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:10
20 Ian Boswell (USA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:24
21 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:09:55
22 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:16
23 William Barta (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:10:33
24 Sean Bennett (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:13:20
25 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:14:40
26 TJ Eisenhart (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:14:55
27 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:15:27
28 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
29 Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:15:40
30 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:16:33
31 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Sky 0:16:56
32 Anass Ait El Abdia (Mar) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:02
33 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Quick-Step Floors 0:18:25
34 Ivo Oliveira (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:18:35
35 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:20:11
36 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:20:37
37 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:22:11
38 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:22:12
39 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale 0:22:17
40 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:22:29
41 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:23:50
42 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team 0:24:01
43 Sepp Kuss (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:24:32
44 Nils Politt (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:24:45
45 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:25:58
46 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data 0:27:24
47 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:28:10
48 Jhonatan Narvaez (Ecu) Quick-Step Floors 0:29:13
49 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:30:24
50 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:30:55
51 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 0:32:57
52 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:33:04
53 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:36:14
54 Silvan Dillier (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:36:32
55 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:36:34
56 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky 0:36:35
57 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:37:14
58 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:37:58
59 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:40:58
60 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:41:10
61 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott 0:41:31
62 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:42:07
63 Filippo Ganna (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:42:19
64 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:42:22
65 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:42:24
66 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:42:42
67 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling 0:44:05
68 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:44:19
69 Lachlan Norris (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:44:46
70 Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Arg) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:45:58
71 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:46:15
72 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:47:54
73 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:47:58
74 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin 0:48:11
75 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data 0:48:16
76 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:48:34
77 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:48:40
78 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:49:41
79 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:50:32
80 Gregory Rast (Swi) Trek-Segafredo 0:50:47
81 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Sky 0:50:50
82 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors 0:51:22
83 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:51:41
84 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:52:44
85 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:54:06
86 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling 0:54:58
87 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:55:28
88 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:55:37
89 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 0:55:54
90 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:56:34
91 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:56:41
92 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:57:13
93 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:57:58
94 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:58:14
95 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:58:25
96 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:58:37
97 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:58:42
98 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:59:00
99 Miguel Bryon (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:59:08
100 Danny Pate (USA) Rally Cycling 0:59:23
101 Roger Kluge (Ger) Mitchelton-Scott 0:59:50
102 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 1:00:26
103 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 1:01:09
104 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 1:01:58
105 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 1:02:58
106 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) BMC Racing Team 1:03:37
107 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 1:04:23
108 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 1:04:26
109 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 1:04:49
110 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:05:18
111 Tom Stamsnijder (Ned) Team Sunweb 1:06:12
112 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 1:08:57