Meanwhile, Gregory Daniel finished in second place, with Kevin De Mesmaeker rounding out the podium in third spot.
Bradley Wiggins managed maintain his overall race, while Dennis also held onto second place in the GC – at 24 seconds back.
Race Highlights
A six-man breakaway group containing Routley, Daniel, De Mesmaeker, Chris Jones, Jonathan Clarke and Matt Cooke, got underway early on in today’s stage.
While the breakaway group was out in front, Routley once again succeeded in scoring all of the bonus points during today’s climbs – to further secure his grip on the "climber’s" jersey.
As the race entered the final kilometer, Clarke came to the fore in order to lead out the sprint. However, inside the final half-kilometer, De Mesmaeker tried to make a go of it. In turn, Routley initiated a surge of his own up the right-hand side of the road to pass the Belgian rider and seize the win.
Today’s victory marked Routley’s first ever win at the Tour of California.
The race continues tomorrow with a 107 mile stage from Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara.
CAN 1 ROUTLEY, Will (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) 3:48:37 USA 2 DANIEL, Gregory (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) BEL 3 DE MESMAEKER, Kevin (NOVO NORDISK) USA 4 JONES, Carter (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) USA 5 COOKE, Matt (JAMIS – HAGENS BERMAN) AUS 6 CLARKE, Jonathan (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 15 GBR 7 CAVENDISH, Mark (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 1:17 SVK 8 SAGAN, Peter (CANNONDALE) AUS 9 GOSS, Matthew Harley (ORICA GreenEDGE) USA 10 PHINNEY, Taylor (BMC RACING) GER 11 DEGENKOLB, John (GIANT-SHIMANO) NED 12 VAN POPPEL, Danny (TREK FACTORY RACING) DEN 13 BROCHNER, Nicolai (BISSELL DEVELOPMENT TEAM) USA 14 MURPHY, John (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) CAN 15 BOIVIN, Guillaume (CANNONDALE) USA 16 YOUNG, Eric (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) USA 17 RODRIGUEZ, Fred (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) GBR 18 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY)
General Classification after Stage 4 GBR 1 WIGGINS, Bradley (SKY) 13:53:51 AUS 2 DENNIS, Rohan (GARMIN SHARP) + 28 POR 3 MACHADO, Tiago (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 1:09 USA 4 CRADDOCK, Lawson (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 1:25 GBR 5 YATES, Adam (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 2:14 USA 6 STETINA, Peter (BMC RACING) + 2:28 USA 7 BUSCHE, Matthew (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 2:29 USA 8 JONES, Carter (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) + 2:31 NED 9 TEN DAM, Laurens (BELKIN) + 2:33 COL 10 ACEVEDO COLLE, Janier Alexis (GARMIN SHARP) + 2:34
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