Cycling: The US cycling team Rally Cycling caused a big surprise on the 4th stage of the Tour of California. With a double victory for Evan Huffman and Rob Britton, they prevented the actually expected mass sprint in Santa Clarita.
The sprinter teams misjudge
Stage 4 took the riders nearly 160 kilometers from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita. A mass sprint, and thus a clash of the top stars, was expected beforehand, as was the case on stage 1. Evan Huffman won from a five-man breakaway group ahead of his teammate Rob Britton. This group formed right at the start. The sprinters' teams miscalculated and joined the chase too late. Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) won the sprint for sixth place ahead of the two Germans John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors). There were no changes in the top 10 of the general classification. Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) retains the yellow jersey as overall leader. His teammate Peter Sagan leads the points classification ahead of Marcel Kittel. Daniel Alexander Jaramillo (UnitedHealthcare) is in first place in the mountains classification.
Mountain finish tomorrow: Can Rafal Majka defend his yellow jersey?
Tomorrow's stage will be decisive in the battle for the overall victory at the 2017 Tour of California. Although the route is only 125,5 kilometers long, the profile is all the more demanding. After the start in Ontario, the riders will have to climb two Category 1 climbs. The day concludes with the ascent of Mount Baldy, a Category 1 climb. With a length of 8,2 kilometers and an average gradient of 8,4 percent, only the best climbers are likely to prevail. The following day, Stage 6, features a 24-kilometer time trial. Even though Rafal Majka is a decent time trialist, he certainly cannot rest on his narrow lead. Therefore, the Polish champion and winner of Stage 2 will fight for every second on Mount Baldy. Germany's Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) will try to defend his tenth place in the general classification.
The result of the 4th stage of the Tour of California
| PLATZ | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Evan Huffman | USA | Rally cycling | 3:41:52 |
| 2. | Rob Britton | Canada | Rally cycling | st |
| 3. | Lennard Hofstede | Netherlands | Sunweb | st |
| 4. | Matthias Le Tournament | France | Cofidis | st |
| 5. | Gavin mannion | USA | United health | st |
| 6. | Peter Sagan | Slovakia | Bora, hansgrohe | + 0: 13 |
| 7. | John Degenkolb | Germany | Trek-Segafredo | st |
| 8. | Marcel Kittel | Germany | Quick Step Floors | st |
| 9. | alexander kristoff | Norway | Katusha Alpecin | st |
| 10. | Simone Consonni | Italy | UAE | st |
Overall ranking of the Tour of California after 4 of 7 stages
| PLATZ | Driver | Country | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Rafal Mayka | Poland | Bora, hansgrohe | 16:04:48 |
| 2. | George Bennett | Australia | LottoNL Jumbo | + 0: 02 |
| 3. | Ian Boswell | USA | Sky | + 0: 14 |
| 4. | Lachlan Morton | Australia | Dimension Data | + 0: 16 |
| 5. | Robert Geink | Netherlands | LottoNL Jumbo | + 0: 45 |
| 6. | Brent Bookwalter | USA | BMC | + 0: 48 |
| 7. | Sam Oomen | Netherlands | Sunweb | st |
| 8. | Andrew Talansky | USA | Cannondale Drapac | st |
| 9. | Vegard stake lengths | Norway | UAE | st |
| 10. | Maximilian schachmann | Germany | Quick Step Floors | st |