Tour of California 2019 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE]

May 16, 2019

Tour of California 2019 – Stage 1 – Pismo Beach – Ventura : 219,5 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.

Iván García Cortina (Bahrain-Merida) sprinted to victory on stage 5 of the Tour of California in Ventura on Thursday, triumphing from a small group after the peloton splintered on an unclassified climb close to the finish.

Maximiliano Richeze (Deceuninck-QuickStep) took second place after leading out the sprint, while Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) finished third – his best result since joining the US squad at the start of the month. Higuita’s teammate, Tejay van Garderen, retains the race lead.

In a stark contrast to stage 4, the peloton flew along faster than the fastest predicted time schedule, coming within a few kilometres of catching the women’s race at one point. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) surprisingly infiltrated the breakaway on what was supposed to be a sprint stage.

The leaders were caught in the final 10km, however, before all hell broke loose on a rise leading to the final intermediate sprint. A fast pace and numerous attacks shed the bulk of the sprinters, leaving a group of under 20 riders to contest the finish. There, into a headwind, García Cortina benefitted from Richeze’s lead-out to take his first professional win.

“I’m glad my team had full confidence in me. They pulled for the last 50km, and I was thinking that I could win today,” García Cortina said in the post-race press conference.

“The was a pretty strong headwind in the finale. And it was a big focus for me because I always make mistakes in the sprints – like, maybe I start 200 or 300 metres too far out – so today I concentrated on starting as late as possible,” he said.

“I saw 200 metres to go, and I thought, ‘OK, this is the opportunity to go.’ I just took the wheel, and at 100 metres I was going full gas.”

How it unfolded

The fifth stage of the Tour of California offered a 219km stage from Pismo Beach to Ventura with five climbs: twice up Foxen Canyon Road (80.5km and 88.5km), San Marcos Pass Road (128.5km) and then twice up Casitas Pass Road (180.5km and 184.5km). The race also opened with an intermediate sprint and then finished with a sprint as the race entered Ventura.

Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) started the day in the leader’s jersey after officials made the controversial decision to keep him in the golden jersey after he’d crashed on stage 4, and then got caught up in a blockade of riders who had just crashed outside the 3km-to-go mark. Van Garderen therefore started Thursday’s stage with a lead of six seconds over Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos), with Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) a further second back in third.

Asgreen, who would have been in the lead if the officials had followed the UCI’s ‘3km rule’ to the letter, won the first intermediate sprint in Orcutt and picked up the three bonus seconds on offer.

The breakaway set off shortly after that, and included Davide Ballerini (Astana Pro Team), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo), Team Jumbo-Visma’s Neilson Powless and Lennard Hofstede, Michael Schär (CCC Team), Brandon McNulty (Rally UHC Cycling), UAE Team Emirates’ Jasper Philipsen, Tim Declercq (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Leonardo Basso (Team Ineos) and Sagan. Alex Hoehn (USA National Team) and Sunweb’s Cees Bol later bridged across.

It was Ballerini who took the first sprint on Foxen Canyon Road ahead of Hoehn, and as they climbed the next KOM over San Marcos Pass, the breakaway’s gap to the peloton fell. EF Education First were pulling steadily at the front of the peloton, holding the breakaway at two minutes.

Ballerini led the way over every climb of the day, bolstering what was by then a lead in the mountains classification, adding 22 points. Hoehn tried to defend his jersey, but didn’t have it in the legs, and returned to the peloton with around 60km to ride.

Further back, gusty tailwinds pushed the peloton along at some 50kph, making the race some 45 minutes faster than the expected fastest time of arrival in Ventura. The opening stage of the Tour of California Women’s Race started 10 minutes early because of the strong winds, and officials tried to avoid the men’s field catching the women’s field before the finish.

Over the final two classified climbs – twice over Casitas Pass Road – the peloton closed in on the break, bringing the gap from 1:45 down to just over 30 seconds. The break responded by starting to attack each other, with Declercq managing to extract himself from the group on the descent of the second of the two climbs.

The riders he had left behind were caught by the peloton with 8km to go, by which time he was 20 seconds up on the chasing pack. On the unclassified climb to the final intermediate sprint, some 5km out, attacks flew from the peloton, led by Zdenek Štybar (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

Štybar didn’t last long out front, however, with Higuita and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) flying past and cresting the ‘sprint’ alone. Further back, the peloton had been blown apart by the attacks, leaving fractured chase groups spread down the road.

The attacking duo were caught 3km from the line, first by a small chase group of around five men, and then by a larger group, which included a few hardy sprinters. A tailwind on the run-in discouraged further attacks, leading to the disorganised sprint to the line.

There, Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Argentinian road race champion Richeze went first, leading out teammate Asgreen, who wasn’t in prime position to receive it. Instead, it was García Cortina who benefitted, breaking QuickStep’s stage-win streak and delivering Bahrain’s third win of the season.

Results :
1 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 4:56:11
2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep
3 Sergio Andres Higuita (Col) EF Education First
4 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb
5 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
6 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
7 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team
8 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
9 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team
11 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
12 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
13 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
14 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
15 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
16 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First
17 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos
18 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
19 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
20 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
21 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
22 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team
23 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First
24 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
25 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
26 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
27 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:00:24
28 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk
29 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
30 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:00:28
31 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos
32 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates
33 Travis McCabe (USA) USA National Team
34 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
35 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates
36 João Almeida (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
37 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
38 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
39 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy
40 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
41 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida
42 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
43 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
44 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
45 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
46 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First
47 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
48 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:34
49 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos 0:00:36
50 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:01:27
51 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
52 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
53 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
54 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk 0:01:53
55 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
56 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk
57 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
58 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Israel Cycling Academy
59 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team 0:02:52
60 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
61 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data
62 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb
63 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
64 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon
65 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team
66 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb
67 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
68 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team
69 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:03:14
70 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team
71 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
72 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb
73 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
74 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:15
75 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
76 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
77 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk
78 Michael Hernandez (USA) USA National Team
79 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk
80 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
81 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
82 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
83 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
84 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
85 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
86 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
87 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:04:58
88 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
89 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos
90 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:11
91 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
92 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos 0:05:41
93 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team
94 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida
95 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:06:16
96 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
97 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First
98 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy 0:06:18
99 Keegan Swirbel (USA) USA National Team
100 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
101 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:07:01
102 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:08:04
103 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:08:30
104 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
105 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
106 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
107 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:36
108 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
109 Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
110 Miguel Bryon (USA) USA National Team
111 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
112 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
113 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:15:18
114 Alex Hoehn (USA) USA National Team
115 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
116 Samuel Boardman (USA) USA National Team
117 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
118 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
119 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
120 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
121 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:24:09
OOT Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First
DNS Tyler Stites (USA) USA National Team
DNS David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Ineos
DNS Timo Roosen (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
DNS Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
DNS Louis Meintjes (RSA) Dimension Data

General Classification after Stage 5 :
1 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 26:13:01
2 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:04
3 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Ineos 0:00:06
4 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:16
5 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:22
6 Sergio Andres Higuita (Col) EF Education First 0:00:28
7 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:33
8 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:34
9 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:35
10 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:00:36
11 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:37
12 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
13 Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo
14 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:42
15 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:44
16 Natnael Berhane (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:46
17 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:00:54
18 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:00:57
19 Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
20 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Education First 0:01:04
21 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:12
22 Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:23
23 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:01:25
24 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:27
25 Travis McCabe (USA) USA National Team 0:01:29
26 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team 0:01:36
27 Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:56
28 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:18
29 Matteo Badilatti (Swi) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:19
30 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:23
31 Michael Schär (Swi) CCC Team 0:04:55
32 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:16
33 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:05:26
34 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:06:50
35 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:08:21
36 João Almeida (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:08:41
37 Péter Kusztor (Hun) Team Novo Nordisk
38 Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:08:54
39 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:09:38
40 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:10:17
41 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo
42 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:11:15
43 Charles Planet (Fra) Team Novo Nordisk 0:14:02
44 Keegan Swirbel (USA) USA National Team 0:14:42
45 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:14:53
46 Gijs Van Hoecke (Bel) CCC Team 0:16:00
47 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Ineos 0:16:14
48 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team 0:16:17
49 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
50 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:14
51 Edward Anderson (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:18:38
52 Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:18:44
53 David Lozano Riba (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk 0:22:18
54 Hamish Schreurs (NZl) Israel Cycling Academy 0:22:39
55 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:54
56 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos 0:23:49
57 Alex Hoehn (USA) USA National Team 0:23:52
58 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:23:56
59 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
60 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:24:43
61 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:25:28
62 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:25:34
63 Joonas Henttala (Fin) Team Novo Nordisk 0:25:54
64 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:26:22
65 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:26:25
66 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:26:59
67 Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:27:21
68 Daniel Oss (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:28:57
69 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:30:37
70 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:30:58
71 Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:33:35
72 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:33:51
73 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Team Ineos 0:33:59
74 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:34:03
75 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos 0:34:05
76 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Team 0:34:22
77 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:35:29
78 Mikkel Bjerg (Den) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:36:22
79 Lars Bak (Den) Dimension Data 0:36:27
80 Cees Bol (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:36:49
81 Casper Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:36:53
82 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:37:32
83 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:37:40
84 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:37:46
85 Andrea Peron (Ita) Team Novo Nordisk 0:37:50
86 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:38:01
87 Leonardo Basso (Ita) Team Ineos 0:39:16
88 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:39:32
89 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:39:37
90 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:39:51
91 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:40:08
92 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:41:58
93 Miguel Bryon (USA) USA National Team 0:44:11
94 Sam Brand (GBr) Team Novo Nordisk 0:44:12
95 Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:44:14
96 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:44:30
97 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Team 0:45:00
98 Michael Rice (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:45:17
99 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data 0:45:22
100 Roy Curvers (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:45:29
101 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:46:21
102 Jens Debusschere (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:46:23
103 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:46:40
104 Maximilian Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:46:58
105 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:47:15
106 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:48:53
107 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
108 Samuel Boardman (USA) USA National Team 0:49:04
109 Michael Hernandez (USA) USA National Team 0:49:05
110 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:49:48
111 Cole Davis (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:49:54
112 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:49:56
113 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Bahrain-Merida 0:51:42
114 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:52:31
115 Roy Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:56:20
116 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:57:26
117 Jonathan Brown (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 0:57:41
118 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 1:03:00
119 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 1:04:37
120 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon 1:04:38
121 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 1:06:17