After the peloton shattered itself chasing attacks, Stage Five of the 2011 Amgen Tour of California came down to a sprint, and Peter Sagan of Liquigas had the right combination of strength and strategy to take the win.
Sagan was fifth in the final 500 meters, but he was also the most patient. HTC-Highroad’s Leigh Howard was the first to start his sprint, but he was 50 meters to far out. Rabobank’s Paul Martens got on Howard’s wheel, but couldn’t pass.
Sky’s Ben Swift launched next, pulling past Martens, and Sagan, riding Swift’s wheel, let the Sky rider serve as leadout, launching a few seconds later and accelerating all the way to the line, while Swift and Howard faded.
“With Friere out front it was really RadioShack and Liquigas-Cannondale out front chasing so I really want to give a big thanks to my teammates; without them the victory would have been impossible,” Sagan told Versus.
“I was really happy I was able to win because [teammate] Daniel Oss was on the break and couldn’t lead out the sprint for me. I saw that [HTC sprinter Matthew] Goss and [Garmin-Cervelo sprinter Thor] Hushovd were out of the group at the end, and also [Sky leadout rider Greg] Henderson not pulling for his teammate helped as well.”
The win Thursday was the 21-year-old Slovak rider’s third Tour of California stage win; he picked up two in the 2010 Tour.
“My favorite win was Big Bear (in 2010) because it was such a tough stage but this one is being so difficult and long was a very satisfying as well.”
An eleven-rider break got away 18 miles into the stage, but only Rabobank’s Oscar Friere and Leopard-Trek’s Stefan Denifl stayed away, and seemed set to steal the stage win, but Denafil got a flat, which doomed his and Freire’s chances as well.
Friere pushed on regardless, forcing the peloton to push a damaging pace. The Rabobank rider was swept up a mile-and-a-half out, but his effort had shattered the peloton and ruined all the leadout trains.
HTC’s Leigh Howard spoke about it with Bob Roll: “The heat played a big part with everyone. I was cramping a bit. Unfortunately we didn’t have our number one sprinter there, Matt Goss, he cramped.
“We had to use a lot of firepower and all the men we had just in the last five K to bring back Oscar Friere.”
Unfortunately I had to open up fifty meters too early in the sprint but that’s bike racing and hopefully we can try again on Sunday [the final stage around Thousand Oaks.]
“I’ve showed today that I’m going well and Gossie’s been sprinting well we both in really good form and if we come to the finish together it’s going to be a hard task for anyone to beat us.”
The pace over the final miles was so fast, and the day so hot, that many riders couldn’t stay with the leaders. Race leader Chris Horner got dragged across the breaks by his teammates, but some General Classification contenders missed the split.
RadioShack’s Chris Horner held on to the leader’s gold jersey, with teammate Levi Leipheimer 1:15 back, and Garmin-Cervelo’s Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde each down a further seven seconds.
The heat, the pace, and yesterday’s tough climb up Sierra Road took its toll. Many riders who probably hoped for an easier ride today had to dig deep, which might affect performance in tomorrow’s Time Trial around Solvang.
Several attacks formed and were ridden down before an 11-rider group attacked an insisted about 18 miles in. RadioShack drove the peloton at a high pace, keeping the gap to the break around two minutes.
Near the peak of the final Cat 4 climb of the stage, Stefan Denifl (Leopard Trek) and Oscar Freire (Lampre) attacked, claiming the King of the Mountain points and keeping right on, leaving the rest of the breakaway riders.
This turned out to be a wise move. Within twenty minutes, the rest of the break got caught, too tired to stay away. Denifl and Freire, both very strong riders and both riders who didn’t hurt themselves on the previous day’s stage, kept the gap at two minutes or a bit more.
Eleven miles out, Radio Shack relaxed the pace—neither of the breakaway riders were General Classification challenges—so Liquigas took over, driving the pace even faster for their powerful young rider Peter Sagan.
It looked as if Freire and Denifl had a chance to stay away, when fate struck Stefan Denifl a cruel blow, in the form of a flat tire. The Leopard-Trek rider swapped out his wheel but had no chance to recatch Oscar Freire.
Freire pressed on alone. Denifl‘s bad luck was Freire’s bad luck, too, though—Two riders together are much faster than one alone, as they can share the load of pace-setting. Freire must have known has much slimmer his chances were, but he didn’t slow.
Behind Freire, Liquigas kept the pace high, stretching out the peloton, but Freire insisted, keeping the gap to 1:20 over the final hills of the stage.
4.5 miles out, HTC-Highroad took over the pacesetting for their sprinter Matthew Goss, taking the pace even higher, splitting the peloton
Friere dug deep, forcing the peloton to dig deeper. HTC and Liquigas wanted a stage win, and were willing to do the work, but with the heat the hills, and the toll of Stage Four, the pace hurt everyone.
Friere got caught; BMC’s George Hincapie and Bissel’s Jeremy Vennell both tried attacks, but got nowhere. The sprinters’ teams had worked too hard to let some solo rider steal the stage.
But there were no leadout trains left. The pace had cracked the big speed specialists. The sprinters were on their own coming into the final 500 meters, and it was Peter Sagan who had the patience to let his opposition burn themselves out.
Stage Six, the Individual Time Trial will probably not be the decisive stage of the Tour of California this year. It looks like Stage Seven, the climb up Mount Baldy, will fill that role. RadioShack’s Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer are too goods in a time trial to lose a chance for the overall win.
Leopard-Trek’s Andy Schleck is not a noted time trailer, but he has turned in some good performances. Garmin-Cervelo has Christian Vande Velde and Tom Danielson in the top five and Ryder Hesjadal in seventh. None of these strong riders are likely to lose badly in time trial.
The climb up Mount Baldy, with two categorized climbs before the extremely steep ascent to the mountaintop finish, will be the last chance for these riders to race head-to-head for the GC lead.
Sagan was fifth in the final 500 meters, but he was also the most patient. HTC-Highroad’s Leigh Howard was the first to start his sprint, but he was 50 meters to far out. Rabobank’s Paul Martens got on Howard’s wheel, but couldn’t pass.
Sky’s Ben Swift launched next, pulling past Martens, and Sagan, riding Swift’s wheel, let the Sky rider serve as leadout, launching a few seconds later and accelerating all the way to the line, while Swift and Howard faded.
“With Friere out front it was really RadioShack and Liquigas-Cannondale out front chasing so I really want to give a big thanks to my teammates; without them the victory would have been impossible,” Sagan told Versus.
“I was really happy I was able to win because [teammate] Daniel Oss was on the break and couldn’t lead out the sprint for me. I saw that [HTC sprinter Matthew] Goss and [Garmin-Cervelo sprinter Thor] Hushovd were out of the group at the end, and also [Sky leadout rider Greg] Henderson not pulling for his teammate helped as well.”
The win Thursday was the 21-year-old Slovak rider’s third Tour of California stage win; he picked up two in the 2010 Tour.
“My favorite win was Big Bear (in 2010) because it was such a tough stage but this one is being so difficult and long was a very satisfying as well.”
An eleven-rider break got away 18 miles into the stage, but only Rabobank’s Oscar Friere and Leopard-Trek’s Stefan Denifl stayed away, and seemed set to steal the stage win, but Denafil got a flat, which doomed his and Freire’s chances as well.
Friere pushed on regardless, forcing the peloton to push a damaging pace. The Rabobank rider was swept up a mile-and-a-half out, but his effort had shattered the peloton and ruined all the leadout trains.
HTC’s Leigh Howard spoke about it with Bob Roll: “The heat played a big part with everyone. I was cramping a bit. Unfortunately we didn’t have our number one sprinter there, Matt Goss, he cramped.
“We had to use a lot of firepower and all the men we had just in the last five K to bring back Oscar Friere.”
Unfortunately I had to open up fifty meters too early in the sprint but that’s bike racing and hopefully we can try again on Sunday [the final stage around Thousand Oaks.]
“I’ve showed today that I’m going well and Gossie’s been sprinting well we both in really good form and if we come to the finish together it’s going to be a hard task for anyone to beat us.”
The pace over the final miles was so fast, and the day so hot, that many riders couldn’t stay with the leaders. Race leader Chris Horner got dragged across the breaks by his teammates, but some General Classification contenders missed the split.
RadioShack’s Chris Horner held on to the leader’s gold jersey, with teammate Levi Leipheimer 1:15 back, and Garmin-Cervelo’s Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde each down a further seven seconds.
The heat, the pace, and yesterday’s tough climb up Sierra Road took its toll. Many riders who probably hoped for an easier ride today had to dig deep, which might affect performance in tomorrow’s Time Trial around Solvang.
Next: Heat, Hills, Attacks
Heat, Hills, Attacks
Several attacks formed and were ridden down before an 11-rider group attacked an insisted about 18 miles in. RadioShack drove the peloton at a high pace, keeping the gap to the break around two minutes.
Near the peak of the final Cat 4 climb of the stage, Stefan Denifl (Leopard Trek) and Oscar Freire (Lampre) attacked, claiming the King of the Mountain points and keeping right on, leaving the rest of the breakaway riders.
This turned out to be a wise move. Within twenty minutes, the rest of the break got caught, too tired to stay away. Denifl and Freire, both very strong riders and both riders who didn’t hurt themselves on the previous day’s stage, kept the gap at two minutes or a bit more.
Eleven miles out, Radio Shack relaxed the pace—neither of the breakaway riders were General Classification challenges—so Liquigas took over, driving the pace even faster for their powerful young rider Peter Sagan.
It looked as if Freire and Denifl had a chance to stay away, when fate struck Stefan Denifl a cruel blow, in the form of a flat tire. The Leopard-Trek rider swapped out his wheel but had no chance to recatch Oscar Freire.
Freire pressed on alone. Denifl‘s bad luck was Freire’s bad luck, too, though—Two riders together are much faster than one alone, as they can share the load of pace-setting. Freire must have known has much slimmer his chances were, but he didn’t slow.
Behind Freire, Liquigas kept the pace high, stretching out the peloton, but Freire insisted, keeping the gap to 1:20 over the final hills of the stage.
4.5 miles out, HTC-Highroad took over the pacesetting for their sprinter Matthew Goss, taking the pace even higher, splitting the peloton
Friere dug deep, forcing the peloton to dig deeper. HTC and Liquigas wanted a stage win, and were willing to do the work, but with the heat the hills, and the toll of Stage Four, the pace hurt everyone.
Friere got caught; BMC’s George Hincapie and Bissel’s Jeremy Vennell both tried attacks, but got nowhere. The sprinters’ teams had worked too hard to let some solo rider steal the stage.
But there were no leadout trains left. The pace had cracked the big speed specialists. The sprinters were on their own coming into the final 500 meters, and it was Peter Sagan who had the patience to let his opposition burn themselves out.
Solvang: The Race of Truth?
Stage Six, the Individual Time Trial will probably not be the decisive stage of the Tour of California this year. It looks like Stage Seven, the climb up Mount Baldy, will fill that role. RadioShack’s Chris Horner and Levi Leipheimer are too goods in a time trial to lose a chance for the overall win.
Leopard-Trek’s Andy Schleck is not a noted time trailer, but he has turned in some good performances. Garmin-Cervelo has Christian Vande Velde and Tom Danielson in the top five and Ryder Hesjadal in seventh. None of these strong riders are likely to lose badly in time trial.
The climb up Mount Baldy, with two categorized climbs before the extremely steep ascent to the mountaintop finish, will be the last chance for these riders to race head-to-head for the GC lead.
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