2011 Tour of California: Stage 5 Results

Thursday’s Stage 5 marked the longest stage of this year’s Amgen Tour of California, running 217.4kms from Seaside to Paso Robles.  Right from the start, Stefan Denifl (Leopard Trek) launched a solo attack, but it was quickly caught.  With four KOM point possibilities on the road, and that classification being so close, the peloton was hesitant to allow breaks to form, keeping the group together until shortly before the first KOM.  At this point, Oscar Freire Gomez (Rabobank Cycling Team), Christopher Froome (Sky Procycling), Daniel Martin (Team Garmin-Cervelo) and Christopher Baldwin (Bissell Cycling) were able to form a cohesive break, with Freire winning both the KOM and sprint points.

At 29kms into the stage, Bert Grabsch (HTC-Highraod) abandoned.  The leader of the best young rider classification, Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Cervelo) crashed on the descent of the first climb, but he was able to catch back up to the peloton.

Before the 2^nd KOM, the break group swelled to 11 riders, with Jonathan Patrick McCarty (Team Spidertech Powered By C10) narrowly edging out  Jesse Anthony (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth) for the points.  With the ferocious fight for these points, the break was able to tickle it’s lead out to over 3 minutes by 62kms.  The riders in this group included:  Daniel Martin (Team Garmin-Cervelo), Martin Velits (HTC-Highroad), Christopher Froome (Sky Procycling), Jeffry Louder (BMC Racing Team), Stefan Denifl (Leopard Trek), Oscar Freire Gomez (Rabobank Cycling Team), Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank Cycling Team), Bradley White (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), Jonathan Patrick McCarty (Team Spidertech Powered By C10), Christopher Baldwin (Bissell Cycling) and Jesse Anthony (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth).

Over the third KOM, Anthony reversed the positioning with McCarty from the second climb.  At this time, Radioshack moved to the front of the peloton and began a fairly strong pace-setting that put pressure on many other teams.

With 102.4kms left, Alex Dowsett (Sky Procycling), Gustav Larsson (Saxo Bank Sungard), Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Saxo Bank Sungard), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Cycling), Alejandro Alberto Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home), Luca Damiani (Kenda/5-hour Energy Pro Cycling presented by Geargrinder) and Jacob Rytlewski (Kenda/5-hour Energy Pro Cycling presented by Geargrinder) crashed, ultimately leading to Jacques-Maynes, Larsson, and Dowsett having to abandon.  Though not involved with the crash, Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervelo) also abandoned the stage, citing illness.

On the final climb, McCarty increased the pace, and only Freire and Denifl were able to stay on his tail, ensuring McCarty maintained his KOM leader’s jersey for at least one more day.  As that was his primary goal, McCarty then allowed Freire and Denifl to continue without him.  The duo were able to push their lead out to 2.25 by 24.5kms to go, but 7 kms later, Denifl got a flat….and Freire didn’t look back! HTC-Highroad, however, was getting anxious in the peloton and decided that having former World Champion Freire out front was not going to work for their plans for a sprint victory.  They set a blistering pace for the peloton, and while Andy Jacques-Maynes and Brent Bookwalter both crashed (but caught back up with the peloton), Highroad’s chase managed to real back “The Cat” at 2.4kms to go.

Highroad’s Leigh Howard opened the final sprint, but Liquigas-Cannondale’s young Peter Sagan was able to pull past four other riders to take the win on the line.

Stage 5 Results:

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Cannondale 5:16:03
2 Leigh Howard (Aus) HTC-Highroad
3 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling
4 Paul Martens (Ger) Rabobank Cycling Team
5 Alex Candelario (USA) Kelly Benefit Strategies – OptumHealth

GC after Stage 5:

1 Christopher Horner (USA) Team RadioShack 16:45:35
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack 0:01:15
3 Thomas Danielson (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 0:01:22

Tomorrow, the riders face the 24kms ITT around Solvang.  After a one-year’s absence, this uphill course may play a major part in sorting out the GC…..

Stage 6