Tour of California 2019 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

May 12, 2019

Tour of California 2019 – Stage 1 – Sacramento – Sacramento : 143 km

The 2019 Amgen Tour of California organisers have announced the 13 host cities for the 14th edition of America’s only WorldTour stage race. Throughout seven stages over seven days from May 12-18, the world’s elite cyclists will contest more than 1,200 kilometres of roadways, highways and coastlines from Sacramento to Pasadena. Other stops along the route include Rancho Cordova, South Lake Tahoe, Stockton, Morgan Hill, Laguna Seca Raceway, Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, Ventura, Ontario, Mt. Baldy and Santa Clarita. Thirteen WorldTour teams will compete alongside five Pro Continental teams and the USA Cycling National Team. The rebranded Team Ineos, formerly Team Sky, will lead the pack, although defending champion Egan Bernal will not be on the start line in Sacramento.

Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) roared back into form with victory on stage 1 of the Tour of California in Sacramento. The three-time world champion had not won since the Tour Down Under in January, and was off the boil during the spring Classics before taking a break and preparing for this race.

His sprint on stage 1 was near faultless, especially given the lack of teammates he had around him in the final before the Bora team leader beat Travis McCabe (USA National Team) and Max Walscheid (Team Sunweb) to the line. The win marked Sagan’s 17th stage victory at the Tour of Califiornia, and rewarded him with the leader’s jersey ahead of stage 2.

Sagan used his bike-handling skills in a tense but wide-open sprint, first latching onto his rivals’ sprint trains, and ensuring that he made the cut after the bunch had split just after the final kilometre. He jumped onto the lead-out from Team Ineos before powering to the right and opening up a significant gap. McCabe came back at the Bora-Hansgrohe rider in the closing metres, but he was unable to pull off what would have been a significant coup. Walscheid had a strong lead-out train in the closing kilometres, but he was left with too much ground to make up after Sagan launched his sprint.

The Deceuninck-QuickStep team had the numbers in the lead group, but they fluffed their lines with lead-out man Michael Mørkøv left responsible for his team. The Dane could only manage fifth, with John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Merida) also making it inside the top 10.

How it unfolded

The pancake flat stage from Sacramento was akin to a criterium with three finishing circuits downtown always destined to decide the stage and the first leader of this year’s Tour of California.

There was still time for the customary breakaway, this time featuring Laurens De Vreese (Astana), Michael Schar (CCC Team), Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk) and Tyler Stites (USA National Team). However, the terrain hardly favoured the brave, and the leading four riders were never able to establish a lead of over two minutes.

With 90km to go Deceuninck-QuickStep, Dimension Data – on behalf of Mark Cavendish – and Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe team controlled the pace, but when the gap to the break dropped to just over a minute, the outcome of the stage was relatively clear. Stites did enough to win the first intermediate sprint, but when De Vreese sat up soon afterwards, only three opportunists remained.

When Schar followed suit just a few kilometres later, the writing was on the wall, with Dimension Data upping the pace at the front of the bunch. Two quickly became one, with Planet seemingly the only rider with the luxury of a gravitational pull towards the finish. However, even that couldn’t help the Frenchman, who was caught 19km from the line.

The only flurry of action from the GC riders came when George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) picked up a one-second bonus at the last intermediate sprint thanks to some canny riding, but from there the sprinters’ teams wrestled complete control.

Katusha-Alpecin, Bahrain-Merida and Jumbo-Visma all attempted to usher their sprinters to the front, but when Sagan began to move up, the pattern for the finale began to unfold. He was one of the last riders to make the cut when the bunch briefly split, but he turned that fortune into his first win in almost four months.

Results :
1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:14:10
2 Travis McCabe (USA) USA National Team
3 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
4 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos
5 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
6 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
7 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:04
8 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
9 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
10 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
11 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
12 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
13 Miguel Bryon (USA) USA National Team
14 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
15 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
16 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
17 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
18 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
19 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
20 Michael Hernandez (USA) USA National Team
21 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
22 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
23 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
24 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
25 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
26 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
27 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Ineos
28 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
29 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First
30 Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
31 Tyler Stites (USA) USA National Team
32 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First
33 João Almeida (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
34 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team
35 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team
36 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
37 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
38 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
39 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
40 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
41 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos
42 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep
43 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
44 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
45 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
46 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
47 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos
48 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
49 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
50 Keegan Swirbel (USA) USA National Team
51 Alex Hoehn (USA) USA National Team
52 Sergio Andres Higuita (Col) EF Education First
53 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
54 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
55 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
56 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
57 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
58 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
59 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
60 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First
61 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos
62 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
63 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
64 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
65 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
66 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
67 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
68 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
69 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
70 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
71 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
72 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
73 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
74 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
75 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First
76 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
77 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
78 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:15
79 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
80 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
81 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
82 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
83 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
84 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
85 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
86 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
87 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
88 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
89 Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
90 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
91 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Israel Cycling Academy
92 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
93 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
94 Samuel Boardman (USA) USA National Team
95 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
96 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk
97 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
98 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
99 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
100 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:00:21
101 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
102 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
103 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
104 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy
105 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
106 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
107 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:26
108 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
109 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:30
110 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb
111 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:33
112 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
113 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
114 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First
115 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:44
116 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
117 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:45
118 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
119 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:51
120 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
121 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:54
122 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:56
123 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb
124 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:59
125 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy
126 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:02:02
127 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
128 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:02:07
129 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:29
130 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:04:20
131 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
132 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:05:31

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:14:00
2 Travis McCabe (USA) USA National Team 0:00:04
3 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:00:06
4 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos 0:00:10
5 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
6 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
7 Tyler Stites (USA) USA National Team 0:00:11
8 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:12
9 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:13
10 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
11 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:14
12 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
13 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
14 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
15 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
16 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
17 Miguel Bryon (USA) USA National Team
18 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
19 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
20 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team
21 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
22 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
23 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
24 Michael Hernandez (USA) USA National Team
25 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
26 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
27 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
28 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
29 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
30 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Ineos
31 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
32 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First
33 Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
34 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First
35 João Almeida (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
36 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team
37 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team
38 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
39 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
40 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
41 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
42 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
43 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos
44 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep
45 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
46 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
47 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
48 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
49 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos
50 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
51 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
52 Keegan Swirbel (USA) USA National Team
53 Alex Hoehn (USA) USA National Team
54 Sergio Andres Higuita (Col) EF Education First
55 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
56 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
57 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
58 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
59 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
60 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo
61 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
62 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First
63 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos
64 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
65 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
66 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
67 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
68 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
69 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
70 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
71 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
72 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
73 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
74 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
75 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
76 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First
77 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
78 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
79 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:25
80 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
81 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
82 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
83 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
84 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
85 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data
86 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
87 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
88 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
89 Will Barta (USA) CCC Team
90 Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
91 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
92 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Israel Cycling Academy
93 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
94 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
95 Samuel Boardman (USA) USA National Team
96 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
97 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk
98 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
99 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk
100 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:00:31
101 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
102 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
103 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
104 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy
105 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
106 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
107 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:36
108 Nigel Ellsay (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
109 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:40
110 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb
111 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:43
112 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
113 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
114 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First
115 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:54
116 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
117 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:55
118 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
119 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:01
120 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
121 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:04
122 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:06
123 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb
124 Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:09
125 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy
126 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:09
127 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:02:12
128 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:02:17
129 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:39
130 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:04:30
131 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
132 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:05:39