Tour of California: Gaviria makes it two in Elk Grove

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It was a day for the sprinters on stage 5 of the 2018 Tour of California, and it was Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) who came out on top for his second stage win at this year's race, besting Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Although there was no change in the overall classification – Tejay van Garderen (BMC) retains his lead ahead of Team Sky's Egan Bernal – it was a dramatic final 10km of the stage, with mechanical problems and punctures for Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Katusha-Alpecin's Marcel Kittel, and then a crash in the peloton with 3km to go before the remnants of the day's breakaway were reeled in with 2km to go.

Gaviria's Quick-Step Floors team took over at the front and easily delivered the Colombian to stage victory in Elk Grove ahead of Ewan and Sagan.

"The guys on the team did a really good job," said Gaviria. "It was really fast all the way to the finish. Max Richeze did a really great job in the last kilometre. It was so fast, and really difficult, but he was so strong, so I'm really happy that we were able to win."

Attention now turns to Friday's stage 6 to Lake Tahoe, which will be decisive as to whether van Garderen can fend off the inevitable attack from Bernal, who sits just 23 seconds behind the American overall.

"It's going to be a really aggressive race tomorrow," said van Garderen. "Bernal is for sure going to do everything he can to try to wrestle this jersey from me. I'm going to be doing everything I can to keep it on my back.

"We have Brent Bookwalter sitting in 10th place; he'll be crucial for the climbs tomorrow. Micky Schär... He's a jack of all trades. And then there's a ton of experience and a ton of depth with all the other guys," van Garderen said, outlining the help he's going to be relying on from his team to try to do enough to take the leader's yellow jersey into Sacramento on the final stage on Saturday.

How it unfolded

Stage 5 set out from Stockton on Thursday, with the peloton well aware that everything pointed to a bunch sprint in Elk Grove 176.5km later.

That didn't stop five riders going up the road almost from the gun, and the peloton were content to let them dangle out front for most of the day, although they were never allowed much more than around three minutes' advantage.

The riders were Michael Rice (Hagens Berman Axeon), Ruben Companioni and Holowesko-Citadel teammate Fabian Lienhard, Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare), and, in AG2R La Mondiale's Stijn Vandenbergh, the first WorldTour rider to get into one of these early moves, which have otherwise been the domain of the Pro Continental squads.

It proved to be a long day out in front for the quintet, who chose not to dispute the intermediate sprints, and to instead concentrate on working together.

With the finish in Elk Grove fast approaching, and as the peloton piled on the pressure from behind, it was the end of the line for Rice just inside 20km to go, swiftly followed by Companioni, while the remaining three pushed on in the vain hope of staying away as their time advantage tumbled.

Mark Cavendish's woes this season continued when, with just over 10km to go, a tangle with an EF-Drapac rider damaged his rear wheel, forcing him to stop for a replacement before a frantic effort to chase back to the bunch with the help of his Dimension Data teammates.

All credit to them that he was able to, still with 6km to go, which is when another of the stage favourites, Katusha-Alpecin's Marcel Kittel, punctured, and was unable to get back into contention.

The crash that came with 3km to go involved a number of Cavendish's Dimension Data teammates, which scuppered any hope of the British sprinter truly being in the mix on the line, but the likes of Gaviria, Ewan, Sagan and their teammates had the bit between their teeth, hoovering up Lienhard, Vandenbergh and Putt with 2km left to race.

That was the cue for Quick-Step Floors to stretch out the bunch, and despite valiant efforts by Ewan and Sagan to get on terms, Gaviria's stage win – his second following his victory in the opener in Long Beach last Sunday – was never really in doubt.

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