photo credits @ Etixx/Twitter
Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) claimed his first victory of the season today, with a powerful finishing kick on the climb of Mount Baldy to dislodge Peter Sagan from the Tour of California lead.
Alaphilippe sprinted away from his rivals during the final 4 kilometers of today’s 128 kilometer stage from Ontario to the Mount Baldy ski resort.
The Etixx-Quick-Step rider now has a two-second lead over Sagan in the overall classification following an impressive performance from the Slovakian rider during yesterday’s Individual Time Trial.
Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) crossed the finish line, 47 seconds adrift of Alaphilippe after starting the stage with a 45-second lead over the Frenchman.
Sagan had nothing left after his storming ride up the out of category switchback ascent, climbing off his bike and collapsing to the pavement at 1,964 meters, after finishing in sixth place.
Pre-race favourite Sergio Henao finished runner-up, 23 seconds behind Alaphilippe in the stage with Sky team-mate Ian Boswell, Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale-Garmin) and Riccardo Zoidl (Trek) rounding out the top five.
“I ran out of gas in the last few kilometers”, Dombrowski said.
Stage 7 Results FRA 1 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) 3:42:13 COL 2 HENAO MONTOYA, Sergio Luis (SKY) + 23 USA 3 BOSWELL, Ian (SKY) USA 4 DOMBROWSKI, Joseph Lloyd (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 36 AUT 5 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 45 SVK 6 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 47 ESP 7 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 53 NED 8 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 1:00 GBR 9 KENNAUGH, Peter (SKY) + 1:17 NED 10 TEN DAM, Laurens (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 1:26 CAN 11 BRITTON, Rob (TEAM SMARTSTOP) + 1:32 AUS 12 NORRIS, Lachlan (DRAPAC) + 1:39 BEL 13 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) + 1:53 USA 14 MANNION, Gavin (JELLY BELLY P/B MAXXIS) + 2:10 GBR 15 GEOGHEGAN HART, Tao (AXEON CYCLING TEAM) + 2:12 USA 16 JONES, Carter (GIANT – ALPECIN) + 2:15 USA 17 GAIMON, Phillip (OPTUM P/B KELLY BENEFIT STRATEGIES) + 2:20 AUS 18 MCCARTHY, Jay (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 3:01 SUI 19 SCHÄR, Michael (BMC RACING) + 3:07 SUI 20 WYSS, Danilo (BMC RACING) + 3:17 USA 21 KING, Benjamin (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 3:23 COL 22 JARAMILLO DIEZ, Daniel Alexander (JAMIS – HAGENS BERMAN) + 3:43 SLO 23 BRAJKOVIC, Janez (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 3:50 ESP 24 HERNANDEZ BLAZQUEZ, Jesus (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 4:04 ITA 25 SENNI, Manuel (BMC RACING) + 4:06 RSA 26 JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Jacques (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 4:17 NZL 27 SMITH, Dion (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 4:33 USA 28 BUSCHE, Matthew (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 4:54 USA 29 ROSSKOPF, Joseph (BMC RACING) + 5:33 AUS 30 LAPTHORNE, Darren (DRAPAC) + 6:50 GER 31 KNEES, Christian (SKY) + 7:43 IRL 32 DEIGNAN, Philip (SKY) + 8:24 USA 33 CRADDOCK, Lawson (GIANT – ALPECIN) + 8:48 POR 34 GUERREIRO, Ruben (AXEON CYCLING TEAM) + 9:19 USA 35 CARPENTER, Robin (HINCAPIE RACING TEAM) + 9:46 USA 36 CURRAN, Geoffrey (AXEON CYCLING TEAM) + 11:04 BEL 37 DEVOLDER, Stijn (TREK FACTORY RACING) AUS 38 CLARKE, William (DRAPAC) AUS 39 CLARKE, Jonathan (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 12:34 AUS 40 FLAKEMORE, Campbell (BMC RACING) + 12:38
General Classification after Stage 7 FRA 1 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) 25:58:21 SVK 2 SAGAN, Peter (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 2 COL 3 HENAO MONTOYA, Sergio Luis (SKY) + 33 USA 4 DOMBROWSKI, Joseph Lloyd (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:10 NED 5 GESINK, Robert (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 1:11 ESP 6 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 1:12 USA 7 BOSWELL, Ian (SKY) + 1:19 AUT 8 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 1:20 GBR 9 KENNAUGH, Peter (SKY) + 1:40 CAN 10 BRITTON, Rob (TEAM SMARTSTOP) + 2:06
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