Rally Cycling Goes 1 – 2 in Stage 4, Majka Maintains Lead

Posted by on

Rally Cycling Goes 1 – 2 in Stage 4, Majka Maintains Lead

Lake Casitas from the top of East
Casitas Pass
Evan Huffman of Rally Cycling won Stage 4 that passed through the Santa Ynez and Topa Topa Mountain ranges between Santa Barbara and Santa Clarita. His teammate, Rob Britton placed second on the Stage. Rally Cycling trains in nearby Oxnard for a month during the winter, so the team is familiar with the route. The 5-rider breakaway group, aided by a tailwind, stayed away from a peloton racing to catch them in the flat run-in over the final 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Huffman pulled away from the other four cyclists and stayed in front to win the stage with 1 km to go. Britton pulled in front of Lennard Hofstede of Team Sunweb in the last 10 meters to take second in the stage. The rest of the peloton crossed the finish line together 40 seconds later.
It is always fun to see the Amgen Tour pass through our area. Seeing the pros riding on the same roads that I ride on is great and sobering. The pros hold the top slots in the Strava King of the Mountains on many of the local climbs. The 159.5 km (99 mile) route took the peloton over the Cat 3 Casitas Pass and Dennison Grade and up the tough Balcom Canyon Road climb, which has a 20% grade in a short section. Outside of those climbs, the route was either flat or had rolling hills with a tailwind over the entire distance.
Balcom Canyon Road
A six-rider breakaway group formed early in the stage. Rob Britton, Evan Huffman, Lennard Hofstede, Mathias Le Turnier (Team Cofidis), Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthCare) and Martin Elmiger (BMC). Martin slipped back to the peloton after the first two climbs, and the breakaway group built a 9-minute lead over the peloton. Once the peloton reached the final 24 km (15 mile) mark, the peloton worked hard to reel in the breakaway coming within 35 seconds, opening gaps within the peloton. Cyclists scrambled to keep the peloton together as they crossed the line in Santa Clarita.

Stage Results

#
Rider
Time
1
Evan Huffman (USA) Rally Cycling
3:41:52
2
Rob Britton (Can) Rally Cycling

3
Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Team Sunweb

4
Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits

5
Gavin Mannion (USA) UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling Team

6
Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
0:00:13
7
John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

8
Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors

9
Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin

10
Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates


Overall Standings


#
Rider
Time
1
Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
16:04:48
2
George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
0:00:02
3
Ian Boswell (USA) Team Sky
0:00:14
4
Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
0:00:16
5
Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
0:00:45
6
Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
0:00:48
7
Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb

8
Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac

9
Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates

10
Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Quick-Step Floors



Comments

Post a Comment