Tour of California 2018 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

May 13, 2018

Tour of California 2018 – Stage 1 – Long Beach : 134,5 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) won the opening stage at the Amgen Tour of California in Long Beach on Sunday. The Colombian won the bunch sprint ahead of Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

The 23-year-old claimed the 30th win of his career, which was also his team’s 30th win this season. Pre-stage favourite Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) placed fourth, and Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) was fifth.

Gaviria, who won four stages at last year’s Giro d’Italia, moved into position but was bumped several times by Jasper Philipsen, the 20-year-old Hagens Berman Axeon rider from Belgium. Gaviria wasn’t pleased and briefly expressed his anger with Philipsen. But the two riders quickly reconciled with a sporting embrace a few moments after the finish.

In the post-race press conference, Gaviria said one bump might have been OK, but when Philipsen repeatedly tried to take Gaviria’s spot in the Quick-Step train, the Colombian took exception, saying that while this might be the biggest race of the year for some riders, the top sprinters are here to prepare for the Tour de France and can’t afford to go down in a crash.

“I don’t know if I’m surprised,” Gaviria said when asked if he expected to be on this level of form after a long break. “I’ve been training at home and training for that, and I think it’s good to come back and win.”

After missing the Classics season following an injury in the penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in mid-March, Gaviria had returned to competition at the Tour of Romandie – although the mountainous route didn’t offer any sprint opportunities.

“After that I went to Eschborn-Frankfurt and the legs were better, and now I’ve come back for the win here, and am really happy for this,” he said.

The group sprint was set up after the field caught leaders Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) and Andrei Krasilnikau (Holowesko-Citadel) – a two-time Belarus national road champion – with less than two of the 12 flat circuits remaining. The two had ridden in front for nearly three hours and more than 125 kilometres.

“It was a pretty straightforward race today, although it was a pretty hectic finish,” said Ewan, after finishing second. “My team was great and got me where I needed to be for the sprint, but Fernando did a great sprint.”

With wide roads leading up to the finish, teams began moving towards the front with about 5km left in the 134.5km stage. The scene wasn’t too dissimilar to the automotive racing more well-known on the downtown streets during the annual IndyCar race, the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Holowesko/Citadel attempted to set up its sprinter, John Murphy, and manoeuvred five riders to the front. But the squad’s effort was too soon and Quick-Step moved to the front. The teams narrowed into a long echelon for a while, but, with the wide roads, several squads began to manoeuvre across the road, and several riders were forced to ride around construction-cone course markers.

As Quick-Step launched Gaviria towards the finish line, Ewan and Sagan fought to follow the Colombian, but it was too little, too late.

Time bonuses at the finish saw Gaviria pick up 10 seconds for the stage win. He leads the overall classification by four seconds ahead of Ewan, who secured a six-second bonus. Putt, who won the two intermediate sprints from the two-rider breakaway for three seconds each, is in third place overall, four seconds behind Gaviria, while Sagan, the 16-time Tour of California stage winner, is fourth, also six seconds back.

Putt’s breakaway companion, Krasilnikau, earned a total of four bonus seconds and is now fifth overall, also six seconds back.

How it unfolded

The 134.5km opening stage in Long Beach was tailor-made for the top-notch sprint field in California. The peloton traversed the 11.5km flat course 12 times, with intermediate sprints at the end of laps 4 and 8. Time bonuses of 10, six and four seconds at the finish were also up for grabs, as well as bonuses of three, two and one second at the intermediate sprints.

Pro Continental riders Andrei Krasilnikau (Holowesko-Citadel) and Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) jumped away from the bunch as soon as the short neutral roll-out ended, and the pair soon had a gap of more than two minutes. Katusha-Alpecin, Mitchelton-Scott and Quick-Step Floors all put a riders on the front, and the chase was on.

Putt took the maximum time bonus at the first sprint, with Krasilnikau claiming the two-second bonus. Back in the field, Katusha’s Nathan Haas tried to lead out GC rider Ian Boswell for the bonus, but Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) decided to test his legs and swept up the final spot just ahead of the Katusha duo.

From there the chasers feathered the gap to the leaders, holding it around 1:30 as the duo up front pushed on. As the leaders approached the second intermediate sprint at the end of lap 8, the gap was back out to 1:45.

Putt once again took the maximum points and time bonus, with Krasilinikau sweeping up the runner-up rewards. As the peloton closed in on the intermediate sprint, Quick-Step’s Alvaro Hodeg surged to the front to deny Cavendish the remaining bonus second.

The gap was down to 1:11 with three laps remaining as Putt and Krasilinikau continued to collaborate and Quick-Step drove the chase. As the leaders crossed the start/finish with two to go, the gap was down to one minute as the chase began to look more determined. Katusha’s Reto Hollenstein continued to pound out kilometre after kilometre for his sprinter Kittel.

The gap dipped below a minute for the first time with just over 36.5km remaining, and the long-expected sprint looked more and more inevitable. When Putt and Krasilnikau saw one lap to go, their gap was down to a mere 10 seconds.

The field swallowed up Putt just after the start/finish, but Krasilnikau hung on a little bit longer. His day off the front was soon over as well, as the peloton reeled him in and then reset for the finale.

Quick-Step Floors led the bunch into the final kilometre, looking to set up their man Gaviria, and it was indeed the Colombian who got it, although not without a strong challenge from Ewan.

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

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors 3:02:13
2 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:00:04
3 Tanner Putt (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:06
5 Andrei Krasilnikau (Blr) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
6 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:09
7 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors
8 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:10
9 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
10 Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Hagens Berman Axeon
11 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
12 Max Walscheid (Ger) Team Sunweb
13 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally Cycling
14 Ivo Oliveira (Por) Hagens Berman Axeon
15 Travis McCabe (USA) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
16 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
17 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
18 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Sky
19 Daniel McLay (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
20 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
21 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Mitchelton-Scott
22 Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo
23 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
24 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
25 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Sky
26 Egan Bernal (Col) Team Sky
27 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
28 Taylor Phinney (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
29 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
30 Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
31 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
32 Ian Garrison (USA) Hagens Berman Axeon
33 Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
34 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
35 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
36 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
37 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
38 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
39 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
40 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
41 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
42 Maarten Wynants (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo
43 Yousif Mirza Al-Hammadi (UAE) UAE Team Emirates
44 Michal Kolár (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
45 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
46 Jack Bauer (NZl) Mitchelton-Scott
47 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally Cycling
48 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
49 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
50 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
51 Rick Zabel (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
52 Thomas Leezer (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo
53 Julien Vermote (Bel) Dimension Data
54 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
55 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
56 Logan Owen (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale
57 Serghei Tvetcov (Rom) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
58 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Raci