Bold BORA - hansgrohe performance on Tour of California Queen
Stage sees Rafał Majka increase GC lead.
Confidence was the name of the game on stage 5 of the Tour of California. First, the UCI
World Champion, Peter Sagan, joined the breakaway to collect points for the green jersey
contest, before Rafał Majka kept a cool head while his GC rivals were trying to take time from
him in the yellow jersey race. The Polish national road champion finished the day in second
spot, narrowly beaten to the line on a tough climb up the bumpy road surface of Mount Baldy
to a challenging summit finish.
On the Tour of California’s Queen Stage, there were only three climbs on the 125.5km route.
However, these climbs made up the entire stage – dominating the profile and doubtless
making the riders’ legs ache just by looking at the route map. After barely being given an
opportunity to recover from the relentless pace at the end of yesterday’s stage, an already
tough stage was made all the more difficult by the efforts of the past four days. The first
climb started from the drop of the flag – almost 10km at 6.8%, before another 12.6km climb
at an average gradient of 5.1% would set riders up for the finale – the race’s second Hors
Catégorie ascent to the summit finish on Mount Baldy, where the GC riders would have their
eye on gaining some time in the overall standings.
With the BORA-hansgrohe team having started the day with two of the Tour’s jerseys – Rafał
Majka in the yellow leaders’ jersey and UCI World Champion, Peter Sagan in the green points
jersey, the Slovak rider decided to try to add to his fourteen point lead in the contest,
jumping in the break. With sprints at 11.5km and 82km, there would just be the small matter
of staying in touch over the first category Glendora Ridge Road for the second lot of points.
While the escape group started out large, with BORA-hansgrohe’s Erik Baška alongside Peter
in the break, another group attacked the front, again with Peter in their midst. There was no
real threat to the GC standings in the break, and those with their eye on the stage win would
be looking to make their move on the final climb of the day.
Having taken second in the first intermediate sprint, Peter took all of the points in the
second, tightening his grip on the green jersey. With this sprint out of the way, it would be
uphill more or less all the way to the finish, and this was when everyone would really start to
suffer. With the attacks coming from the front, the break was starting to show signs of their
efforts, and at the foot of Mount Baldy, more and more members of the break were caught by
the peloton. The gap to the remaining riders was down to less than two minutes, but in just a
few kilometres, this was down to forty-five seconds. The catch made shortly after, a small
bunch of GC riders was starting their own fight for the finale, with Rafał Majka in the mix,
responding well to attacks and staying calm when it was clear his rivals were eager to take
time from him.
With just 2km remaining, the Polish national champion attacked, surprising his rivals, who
were slow to pull him back in. With the finish line looming and the climb taking its toll, it was
down to five on the front – with Rafał confidently responding to every move made, even on
the steepest sections. Fighting it out on the rough road surface, a slightly wide line on the last
corner saw Rafał just beaten to the line by Cannondale-Drapac’s Talansky, but this second
spot gained him a few precious seconds over his rivals in the GC, going into tomorrow’s time
trial with a six-second advantage.
“I didn’t win but I think that second was still a good result. I'd like to thank all my teammates
for the excellent work they did today. Tomorrow I’ll try to keep the jersey, but it’ll be difficult
with Talansky. I wanted to gain some time today but it wasn’t easy. I didn’t know the finish –
there were a lot of corners and with 100m to go I tried to sprint, but Talansky passed me on
the left hand side. Congratulations to him on his win. I’m still happy with this second place
but tomorrow we need to try to keep the jersey. When we look at the race so far, I’ve been
strong and I don’t feel too bad. For the time trial tomorrow it’s 24km and I’ll try to keep the
jersey.” – Rafal Majka