Tour of California 2017: Stage 5

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January 1 - May 20, Ontario, California, Road - WorldTour

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Race overview:
Distance: 125.5km
Start location: Ontario
End location: Mt. Baldy

 

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the Amgen Tour of California queen stage 5!

The riders are lining up at the start in Ontario. We are about 10 minutes away from the neutral start.

Today is a big day for the peloton as the riders will take on the queen stage, which showcases two KOM ascents and two intermediate sprints before summiting Mt. Baldy for the finish. This final climb was used in both 2012 and 2015 editions won by Robert Gesink and Julian Alaphilippe, respectively.

Today could very well decide the overall winner of the Amgen Tour of California.

The riders have two minutes to the start.

An attack on stage 2's Mt. Hamilton, 50km from the finish, set up the current GC standings. Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) leads George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) by two seconds, Ian Boswell (Team Sky) by 14 seconds and Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data) by 16.

And the riders are rolling out. They will complete a 2km neutral start before officially beginning the race.

Cyclingnews' reporter Ted Burns spoke with George Bennett at the start of today's stage. When asked how he was feeling, the overall contender replied, 

Some riders believe that an early breakaway might go. Andrea Peronsaid,

 

 

Sep Kuss, Rally's newcomer and climbing talent, spoke with Ted Burns at the start. 

Let’s talk a little bit about today’s stage.

There is a breakaway of 20 riders that have established a 25-second gap. We will get those names for you momentarily.

The gap has stretched out to 45 seconds.

The large group is now 24 riders and they are heading toward the first sprint of the day.

Team Sunweb's Johannes Fröhlinger has crashed but he appears to be OK. He has gotten back up quickly and is receiving support.

The 24-rider breakaway now has 55 seconds on the main bunch.

Tiago Machado (Katusha) won the sprint out of the breakaway ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Breakaway riders are:

The gap is now 1:20 as they ride toward Mountain Ridge Rd.

Craddock and Baska have been dropped from the large breakaway. 

There are seven riders attacking that 20-some-rider lead group.

The front group has been reduced to 16 riders with a 2:10 gap.

The seven riders who attacked the breakaway were Machado, Trentin, Kennaugh, Sagan, Britton, Hofstede and Bauer.

But there is a little bit of reshuffling among these groups as riders continue attacking on the slopes of Glendora Ridge Rd.

Truls Kirsaeth (Astana) is also in the move.

The riders are racing up Mt. Baldy Rd, which will veer onto Glendora Ridge Rd for the start of the first KOM.

This climb is 9.2km at 6.8% grade.

The lead group is establishing itself with Trentin and Bauer, Peter Sagan, Bagot, Hofstede, Lindemann, KOM leader Jaramillo and Korsaeth, along with Britton and Huffman, who finished one-two in yesterday's stage 4 after being in the breakaway all day.

The mountain classification standings are as follows:

 

Rally's Rob Britton and Evan Huffman were in the winning breakaway during stage 4 and tried to pick up KOM points, but it wasn't enough to surge ahead of UHC's Daniel Jaramillo. 

The breakaway is one kilometre from the top of the KOM on Glendora Ridge Rd.

Jaramillo currently has 24 points while Huffman has 13.

Huffman – stage 4 winner and most courageous on the day, spoke with Cyclingnews' Pat Malach at the start of today's stage.

In a surge to the line, Jaramillo took top mountain points atop Glendora Ridge Rd, ahead of Huffman and Machado.

Riders are catching back up to the leaders following the first KOM. The group is descending and they will soon make their way around the flatter section of the course, alongside the Morris and San Gabriel Reservoirs and then through Glendora for the second intermediate sprint.

Behind the lead group, there are several smaller groups that will likely reunite once they are at the bottom of the descent.

This stage could potentially decide the overall winner of the Amgen Tour of California. Organisers have used the summit of Mt Baldy on two previous occasions; Robert Gesink won the stage in 2012 and Julian Alaphilippe won in 2015.

In 2012, Gesink out-sprinted John Darwin Atapuma (then racing for Colombia Coldeportes), while the Colombian's teammate Fabio Duarte claimed third.

In 2015, Alaphilippe won, sprinting away from runner-up Sergio Henao, who finished 23 seconds down with teammate Ian Boswell.

And of course, we can't forget that the Tour of California included Mt. Baldy in its 2011 edition as well! Then RadioShack teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner went one-two, respectively, while Laurens ten Dam was third. Horner also solidified his overall race lead on this stage that year.

Following the first KOM on Glendora Ridge Rd, Jaramillo increased his lead to 36 points ahead of Huffman with 20.

The main field is starting to pick up those riders who were dropped from the initial breakaway on Glendora Ridge Rd.

Special thanks to José Been for sending us a link to the climbing records for Mt. Baldy, 8.1km with an average grade of 8.4% (although this year the race guide lists the distance at 8.2km).

The 13-man lead group is holding 3:25 over the main field. Greg Henderson from the American UnitedHealthcare team is the highest placed on GC in that move. He is currently in 23rd place at 4:43 behind overall leader Rafal Majka.

If you've been following the Giro d'Italia, Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) took the overall lead during the stage 10 time trial. He maintained that lead following stage 12 today.

The breakaway is racing along the reservoirs of Morris and San Gabriel. They will soon hit the second intermediate sprint in Glendora before starting the back-to-back climbs of Glendora Mountain Rd to the top of Mt. Baldy.

What a great race it has been for Rally. Huffman and Britton are, again, in the day's breakaway after finishing one-two, respectively yesterday.

The breakaway is holding at roughly 3 minutes. But the current overall GC riders are sitting back in the main field and likely banking on the final two climbs up Glendora Mountain Rd and Mt. Baldy.

Following yesterday's stage 4 finish in Santa Clarita, Majka said that if he felt good he would attack.

Boswell, third overall at 14 seconds, told Cyclingnews’ Pat Malach: 

35km remaining from 125km

LottoNL-Jumbo riders are taking massive turns on the front of the field. This team has two potential winners in George Bennett, second overall at two seconds back and Robert Gesink, fifth place at 48 seconds back.

Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) has jumped out of the breakaway to join Britton. The pair are now leading the race by 30 seconds.

Tiago Machado is is trying to bridge across to the two leaders. He will need to make up 30 seconds.

The rest of the original breakaway is almost one minute behind Britton and Kennaugh, and the peloton is 2:35 back.

Britton is looking very strong and smooth, not at all like he was in an all-day breakaway yesterday. Kennaugh is having trouble staying on his wheel.

34km remaining from 125km

There are 32km to go to the finish line. Right now, Britton is looking very strong on Glendora Mountain Rd. 

Britton is seated as he pushes on the pedals. Kennaugh is sitting and standing as he struggles to stay ahead of the chasers. Machado is slightly further back. All three riders are riding on their own.

Quick-Step Floors teammates Trentin and Bauer are pulling the chase group behind Britton, Kennaugh and Machado, but they have a 1:15-minute gap to close to Britton.

29km remaining from 125km

There is 1km to go to the top of Glendora Mountain Rd. Britton will pick up those points but he will not put a dent in Jaramillo's overall mountain classification lead. Britton is likely going for the stage win today.

World champion and points leader Peter Sagan (BOra-Hansgrohe) just took a turn on the front of the chase group, giving Quick-Step Floors' riders Bauer and Trentin some reprieve. 

Britton just crossed the KOM line. He has 40 seconds on Kennaugh, 1:40 to the chase group and 3:00 on the main field.

Huffman just attacked out of the chase group but Jaramillo tagged on to that move.

25km remaining from 125km

Britton has shown himself as a strong stage racer. He was third overall at the USA Pro Challenge in 2015. He also won the overall title at the Tour of the Gila that year. He was also fifth overall at the Tour of Utah in 2016.

Britton has extended his lead on the main field by another 10 seconds, gap is now 3:05.

Britton is flying down a sweeping section on Glendora Mountain Rd. Although there are some small downhill parts, this section of the race is mainly uphill. He has another 17km to go until he reaches the base of Mt. Baldy.

Kennaugh is still stuck in no man's land almost one minute behind Britton and one minute ahead of the chase group led by Quick-Step Floors riders Bauer and Trentin.

Peter Sagan has dropped out of the original breakaway and has gone back to the main field led by LottoNL-Jumbo.

Lindeman has also dropped back to the main field to help his LottoNL-Jumbo teammates.

20km remaining from 125km

Chase rider Bagot told Cyclingnews at the start of the race that he thought there would be a winning breakaway.

17km remaining from 125km

Peter Sagan is settling into the main field just behind LottoNL-Jumbo.

15km remaining from 125km

Kennaugh is struggling on his own at 1:15 behind Britton... as is Bauer, who is 1:50 behind.

Bauer is about to be reabsorbed into the main field.

Ian Boswell (Team Sky) is sitting in just behind LottoNL-Jumbo duo Gesink and Bennett. Yellow jersey Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) is on Boswell's wheel. 

LottoNL-Jumbo have stormed passed Kennaugh and now the only rider left out front is Britton.

The Rally rider is holding just under 2 minutes on the chase group but it is not a sure bet that he will win this stage. The hardest part of the race is still to come.

Britton is losing time, down to 1:15 to the chase group of overall contenders.

9km remaining from 125km

Britton is riding through the town of Mt. Baldy as fans step out to cheer for the race.

Britton is now on Mt. Baldy. He is seeing 8km to go and the hardest part of the race.

Britton's gap has been slashed in half, now only 45 seconds from the main field.

Andrew Talansky is still in the main field sitting on his teammate Nathan Brown's wheel, and looking quite good.

Dimension Data has taken the lead of the main field with Lachlan Morton sitting in tight near the front, Cannondale-Drapac's Brown and Talansky are sitting right behind them, as LottoNL-Jumbo riders move further back.

6km remaining from 125km

Britton's teammate Sep Kuss (Rally) has just launched an attack.

Lachlan Morton is also making a strong move, followed by Brent Bookwalter (BMC).

5km to go and Robert Gesink has been dropped on the steeper sections of Mt. Baldy.

Andrew Talansky is pushing the pace on the steepest section of the climb. Bookwalter is stuck to his wheel followed by Morton. Yellow jersey Majka is sitting in the group watching and waiting.

Bookwalter moves to the front but all of the GC contenders are following close behind.

Bookwalter pulls off to the side and Morton takes over the pace setting. Bennett, Majka, Boswell, Talansky.

Talansky attacks and Majka follows.

There are now three leaders: Morton, Talansky Bookwalter... but Boswell closes the gap with Majka on his wheel.

There are seven riders still together: Talansky, Majka, Morton, Bookwalter, Boswell,  Bennett, Oomen.

Talansky attacks again but Majka and Bennett follow.

3km remaining from 125km

Boswell is chasing and trying to catch back up to the three leaders.

Bennett is only 2 seconds behind Majka in the overall classification. Talansky is 48 seconds down in the overall.

Boswell has made a huge effort to close the gap to Talansky, Majka and Bennett. He's made the contact and now there are four riders heading out the final 2km.

Majka makes his move.

Bennett hesitated and looks to Talansky and Boswell to work. Their reaction was too late.

Talansky attacks Bennett and Boswell, and tries to bridge up to Majka.

Talansky gets across to Majka as does Bennett. 

Talansky makes his way to the front again but Majka is quick to move onto his wheel followed by Bennett.

Bennett attacks with 1km to go but Majka responds and does not let either rider gain any time.

Majka is leading the trio but Bennett jumps around him as Talansky gets dropped.

There are time bonuses on the line 10, 6 and 4 seconds.

Bennett is only 2 seconds behind Majka in the overall, Boswell 14 seconds back.

Boswell is back in the mix as is Talansky.

Four-man sprint. Talansk sprints, Majka tries to respond.

Talansky takes the stage win!

It was a strong ride by Andrew Talansky, who was the most aggressive rider on that climb today. Well-derserved stage win for the American from Cannondale-Drapac.

Talansky picked up the 10-second time bonus but he started the day 48 seconds down on GC.

Majka finished second place and will hold on to the overall leader's jersey heading into the stage 6 time trial.

Bennett finished third.

Boswell was fourth and Bookwalter fifth.

Stage 5 brief results:

The riders will contest the flat 24km time trial at Big Bear Lake tomorrow.

Andrew Talansky is sporting a huge smile as he stands on the podium and collects his flowers - fans cheering.

Bennett remains in second place overall but he is now six seconds behind Majka. Boswell is in third at 25 seconds back. They will no doubt want to put forth a strong time trial at Big Bear Lake tomorrow, along with other contenders who still have a shot at taking the overall lead.

Stage winner Talansky said a few words following the stage,

Overall leader Rafal Majka said, "When I see the time trial, 24km, I will try to keep this jersey."

Thanks for following our live coverage of stage 5 at the Amgen Tour of California. Join us tomorrow for the stage 6 time trial at Big Bear Lake.

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