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Tour of California 2019: Stage 3

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Welcome to our live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour of California. Today's stage runs 208km from Stockton to Morgan Hill.

 

Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 3 of the Tour of California. We're about ten minutes out from the stage start in Stockton.

Tejay van Garderen is in the race lead after yesterday's second stage. He took second behind Kasper Asgreen in South Lake Tahoe and the EF man will be looking to defend yellow on another long one today.

Today's stage features five climbs, including a HC climb in Mount Hamilton, 68.5km from the finish.

That's what Simon Geschke (CCC Team) thinks, anyway. The German finished 15 minutes down yesterday, and best-placed man Riccardo Zoidl lies 1:01 down on GC, so the Polish team will be looking to the break today.

And the peloton have just rolled out in Stockton. They'll complete a short neutralised section before the real racing gets underway.

Here's CCC DS, Jackson Stewart, on today's stage.

Here's CCC DS, Jackson Stewart, on today's stage.

All 132 riders who finished yesterday have taken the start today, with no abandons overnight and nobody missing the time cut on that tough stage 2.

The neutralised zone is 7.7km long, and the riders will be reaching the end of it soon.

207km remaining from 208km

Trek-Segafredo rider Toms Skujinš finished over 26 minutes down yesterday, while team leader Richie Porte – riding his first race since Catalunya in later March – was 31 seconds down on Asgreen, moving to 13th on GC.

Back to the race and riders are already trying to clip off the front of the peloton.

199km remaining from 208km

It has been a fast start, and numerous riders have attempted to get away, but no break has been established yet.

189km remaining from 208km

Here are the men who have attacked the peloton. They have 45 seconds right now.

Dennis is just 42 seconds down on GC, so I'd imagine EF Education First won't be keen on letting him get away for the day.

While Team Sunweb have two men on the attack in California, on the other side of the world in Italy, Tom Dumoulin endured a nightmare stage 4 at the Giro d'Italia.

180km remaining from 208km

A combination of the high winds and pace at the front of the peloton is making this a brutal start to the stage.

175km remaining from 208km

The gap is now down to 20 seconds, as there isn't much cooperation among the leaders, despite several teams have more than one rider up there.

169km remaining from 208km

The peloton will soon be approaching the first climb of the day, Patterson Pass Road, which is 5.2km long at an average of 6.1%.

We have Pat Malach in the media car today. He Spoke to EF Education First's Lawson Craddock before the stage.

Another group is on the attack at the moment, but we don't have the names yet.

The group has two minutes on the peloton now, though the riders out front haven't been confirmed yet.

158km remaining from 208km

The two leaders have 4:25 on the peloton now, riding through rolling hills. It's still very windy as they climb the first KOM of the day.

Here's the view in California. Blue skies and rolling hills.

The gap to the leaders is really ballooning now. Almost six minutes separate Cavagna and Hoehn from the peloton. EF Education First are at the head of the peloton.

155km remaining from 208km

Hoehn and Cavagna were neck-and-neck up the climb, which looked to be up to 16-18 per cent gradients in some parts. In the end, it was Hoehn who took the points ahead of the Quick Step rider.

Here are the duo on the climb.

Hoehn is riding a bright yellow Cannondale here, which he usually races for US Continental team Aevolo.

The gap between the leaders and the peloton is over eight minutes now.

Davide Ballerini (Astana Pro Team) was third over the top of the climb, looking to bolster his lead in the mountain classification.

Down the descent and now the leaders will take on some more flat roads before the intermediate sprint at Mines Road.

The break turns on to Tesla Road. There are, hopefully, no electrically-powered bikes in the peloton, though.

The leaders are 5km away from the intermediate sprint.

After taking the race lead yesterday, Tejay van Garderen was among the rider to speak to Cyclingnews for our GC analysis article.

The break just rolled through the sprint, with no contest. Ballerini led the way.

5km to go until the second climb of the day, the third category Mines Road – 3km at 6.7%.

Over in the Giro, there's been a bit of a flare-up, as Mikel Landa (Movistar) blamed Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) for making him crash during the finale of stage 4.

130km remaining from 208km

Cavagna led Hoehn over the climb at Mines Road. Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) led the peloton over.

The road keeps rising after the climb, more like a false flat than any tough gradients though. Next up is the feed zone for the leaders.

A correction to the last KOM results – it was Hoehn first over the top, followed by Cavagna, and then Ballerini once again. The Italian KOM leader jumped away from the peloton to take another point.

21-year-old Hoehn has had a good year so far for Aevolo, finishing third and fourth at the Joe Martin Stage Race and Tour of the Gila, respectively, as well as taking the youth classification in the latter.

Cavagna, meanwhile, is also riding the Tour of California for the first time. The 23-year-old won Dwars door West-Vlaanderen last season, while this season his best result has been third at the opening time trial of the Tour de la Provence.

115km remaining from 208km

In the last of our pre-stage interviews, we heard from Rally UHC on Brandon McNulty's bad day yesterday. The American, who only turned 21 last month, won the Giro di Sicilia soon after, and finished ninth in the Tour of Oman.

The break has already passed through the feed zone, and now the peloton are passing through.

103km remaining from 208km

It's a quiet part of the stage right now. We're waiting for the potential action to kick off over the remaining climb, especially the HC climb of Mt. Hamilton.

Paweł Bernas (CCC Team) has attacked the peloton. He's made up some ground quickly, and lies seven minutes back from the break.

The gap between break and peloton is still very big. It's 10:30 right now.

91km remaining from 208km

EF Education First are driving the peloton along, with the unmistakeable frame of Taylor Phinney at the head of affairs.

Hoehn leads Cavagna over the San Antonio Valley Rd climb (the first of two third-category climbs with that name today). More points for the American.

Over in Europe, the Aderlass investigation into blood doping ring led by German doctor, Mark Schmidt, appears to have claimed another scalp.

80km remaining from 208km

The break are now on the second San Antonio Valley Rd climb, another third category climb.

And here's our latest from the Giro d'Italia – an analysis of the GC race after four stages. Primož Roglič and Richard Carapaz gained time on everyone today, while Tom Dumoulin lost minutes. Barry Ryan has all the ins and outs.

74km remaining from 208km

Hoehn took the points over that last third category climb, but Cavagna attacked at the base of Mt Hamilton.

It's a long way to ride solo for Cavagna, but he does have a huge advantage over the peloton, and he's way down on GC. 

A few riders are already getting spat out of the back of the peloton on the lower slopes of the HC climb.

Mt Hamilton is 7.2km long at an average of 8.4% – it's a tough one.

Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) has stopped with a mechanical problem on the climb. Looks like a drivetrain issue.

Cavendish gets a new bike, and a push-start from DS Rolf Aldag. This is far from his terrain though, so he probably won't be making it back to the peloton anytime soon.

He's in the cars now, though still some way down. Maybe Bernhard Eisel will drop back from the peloton to give him some company, as he did on yesterday's stage.

Hoehn is now 55 seconds down on Cavagna.

Meanwhile, Bernas is losing time on the climb. He's falling back towards the peloton.

70km remaining from 208km

EF Education First are still driving the peloton. The gap really isn't coming down much though.

66km remaining from 208km

Both leaders are on the descent now. There's under 20km to race until the next climb, and it's all downhill. Quimby Road Summit is up next – it's a 2.1km climb that average 8.8% and tops out 49km from the finish line.

Bernas has been brought back by the peloton. A bit of a pointless exercise for the Pole, but some nice training, in any case.

59km remaining from 208km

Cavagna and Hoehn are descending well here. The roads are smooth, but it's pretty twisty all the way down and the pair are flying down the side of Mount Hamilton. Hoehn has taken a few seconds back, in fact.

Cavagna is still a few kilometres away from the bottom of the next climb.

56km remaining from 208km

Back downhill now after that brief respite, and back to the endless corners on this technical descent.

50km remaining from 208km

Cavagna is on the second category Quimby Road Summit now. Hoehn still a minute back, still descending.

Ballerini took third over Mount Hamilton, jumping ahead of the EF train.

There are two minutes between Cavagna and Hohen now, as the QuickStep man crests the summit of Quimby Road.

Cavagna has 30 points in the mountain classification now, all his points coming today.

44km remaining from 208km

The time gap back to the peloton hasn't budged in a while – it still reads 7:35. If that's true, then Cavagna has a good chance of staying away to take the win here.

Hm, the television graphics are giving Ballerini 26 points. Either they haven't updated for the last KOM, or my maths is wrong.

Cavagna and Hoehn chat with their team cars. For Cavagna it's all smiles – he seems certain to hang on and take the win, even though there's still 39km to race.

And if Hoehn hangs on out there, taking a second place on a stage of the Tour of California is a very big deal, obviously.

31km remaining from 208km

The gap to the peloton is now up over eight minutes. They've really knocked it off here.

25km remaining from 208km

Hoehn is basically bang in the middle of Cavagna and the peloton right now.

Simon Geschke (CCC Team) has attacked the peloton. After Bernas' earlier fruitless attack, CCC are determined to get something from the day, it seems.

Cavagna is closing in on the final sprint point, which, cruelly, is at the top of a hill.

19km remaining from 208km

Hoehn isn't having a great time of it either, taking on more food and drink from the team car. He's 5:45 down on Cavagna now and just three minutes up on the peloton.

Hoehn passes the sprint point. He has 21.5km to go.

Ben King (Dimension Data) is up there on the attack with Geschke.

Hoehn is haemorrhaging time now. 6:20 down on Cavagna.

9km remaining from 208km

Cavagna is on flat road to the finish, though. He can enjoy this victory.

Geschke and King are reportedly 40 seconds down on Hoehn. He might just hold on here.

They can see Hoehn now.

4km remaining from 208km

And they catch Hoehn.

Hoehn is dropped by the duo. He can console himself with the mountain jersey though.

2km remaining from 208km

Cavagna closes in on the kilometre banner. The only suspense now is if the attacking duo will be caught.

King wins the sprint for second place ahead of Geschke. The peloton comes in 7:50 back.

Here's today's top ten:

And here's the GC top ten, unchanged.

A spectacular ride from Cavagna, who spent 75km out there on his own after attacking Hoehn on Mt. Hamilton. 

And it was a great ride from Alex Hoehn too. He led the way over the early climbs, and stuck it out almost all the way until the end. Some feat over such a long stage with WorldTour teams chasing, and later attacking, behind.

My sums were correct, in the end – Hoehn is the new KOM leader with 31 points. Cavagna lies second on 30, while Ballerini is on 29.

That was Dececuninck-QuickStep's 28th win of the season, by the way.

A full race report and results sheet from stage 3 of the Tour of California should be up here soon, while we'll have further reporting and reactions from the race in the coming hours.

Anyway, that's all from our live report from stage 3. Hope you enjoyed following along! We'll be back with more live reporting from the Giro d'Italia and Tour of California tomorrow.

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