photo credits @ Tour of California
Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) won his second stage of this year’s Tour of California today, after edging out Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) in a close sprint ending at the Laguna Seca race-way.
“The last climb was very hard, on the last climb everybody was attacking,” said Sagan. “I’m very happy.”
Meanwhile, Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx – Quick-Step) finished in 10th place, preserving his lead in the overall eight-day race.
“Today was different than yesterday my legs were not so good,” said Alaphilippe. “It was not my best day.”
Race Highlights
Earlier, Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) made an unusual appearance in the day’s escape group. He joined six other riders: Gregory Daniel (Axeon Hagens Berman), Michael Morkov (Katusha), Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo), Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare), Ryan Anderson (Direct Energie) and William Routley (Rally Cycling).
The seven riders worked well together over the longest stage of the race, keeping momentum until the final climb, when all but Gregory Daniel were swallowed up by the chasing peloton with 5 kilometers to go.
As the riders approached the Laguna Seca raceway up a testing climb, Daniel was caught and the peloton started to split apart. Ruben Guerreiro (Axeon Hagens Berman) and Haas both launched unsuccessful solo attacks on the iconic race track.
As the lead group swept through the twisting corkscrew section and round into the final bend, Sagan was in prime position. He opened up his sprint and fended off his rivals to take the win.
Stage 4 Results SVK 1 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF) 5:16:33 BEL 2 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) AUS 3 HAAS, Nathan (DIMENSION DATA) USA 4 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING) GBR 5 GEOGHEGAN HART, Tao (AXEON HAGENS BERMAN) USA 6 POWLESS, Neilson (AXEON HAGENS BERMAN) AUS 7 DENNIS, Rohan (BMC RACING) BEL 8 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (KATUSHA) CAN 9 BRITTON, Rob (RALLY CYCLING) FRA 10 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) USA 11 STETINA, Peter (TREK – SEGAFREDO) ESP 12 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) USA 13 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE) + 3 ITA 14 MOSCON, Gianni (SKY) POR 15 GUERREIRO, Ruben (AXEON HAGENS BERMAN) USA 16 CRADDOCK, Lawson (CANNONDALE) ESP 17 MEGIAS LEAL, Javier (NOVO NORDISK) NZL 18 BENNETT, George (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) ESP 19 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK – SEGAFREDO) NED 20 TEN DAM, Laurens (GIANT – ALPECIN)
General Classification after Stage 4 FRA 1 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) 18:06:17 USA 2 STETINA, Peter (TREK – SEGAFREDO) + 22 NZL 3 BENNETT, George (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 37 USA 4 BOOKWALTER, Brent (BMC RACING) + 40 USA 5 POWLESS, Neilson (AXEON HAGENS BERMAN) + 43 NED 6 TEN DAM, Laurens (GIANT – ALPECIN) + 49 AUS 7 DENNIS, Rohan (BMC RACING) + 1:01 ESP 8 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) CAN 9 BRITTON, Rob (RALLY CYCLING) + 1:12 ESP 10 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK – SEGAFREDO) + 1:15 USA 11 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE) USA 12 CRADDOCK, Lawson (CANNONDALE) + 1:18 POR 13 GUERREIRO, Ruben (AXEON HAGENS BERMAN) + 1:34 ESP 14 MEGIAS LEAL, Javier (NOVO NORDISK) + 1:39 BEL 15 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (KATUSHA) + 1:44
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