Tour of California: Sagan finally gets his win in Avila Beach

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Peter Sagan finally earned his keep at Tinkoff-Saxo, claiming the stage victory in the Tour of California stage 4 in Avila Beach in a perfectly executed sprint to beat Drapac's Wouter Wippert and Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quickstep).

Sagan's powerful jump overhauled late attacker Daniel Oss (BMC), and he was able to easily hold off the other sprinters.

Toms Skujins (Hincapie) was well protected by his team today and held onto the lead, now 22 seconds up on Sagan, with SmartStop's Rob Britton now third overall after Julian Alaphilippe was called into service for Cavendish.

Sagan dodged a question about the pressure his team owner Oleg Tinkov has been putting on him to live up to his multi-million euro contract with more wins, dedicating his victory to his teammate.

"I'm very happy for this victory, and thanks to my teammates who did a very good job," Sagan said. "This victory is for Maciej Bodnar who crashed yesterday very badly and went home this morning."

The Tinkoff-Saxo team was down another man, Daniele Bennati who flatted before the finale, leaving Sagan with just three riders to usher him to the line.

He needed little help, however, as Etixx-Quickstep surged to reel in Oss, bringing him within touching distance just 200m from the line.

"I was in the group and my teammate brought me to the front for the last left corner, and as I was going on the front, Mark Cavendish was behind me. Maybe I took the turn better. From the last corner I just sprinted," Sagan concluded.

Wippert was clearly disappointed at not taking the win, but he quickly put the runner-up result into perspective.

"You want to win, but it’s not bad to lose to [Sagan]," he said. "All due respect to him. He did a great job in the last 500 metres. I think we turned in the first corner with 500 to go like 10th and 11th or something. So actually I’m surprised I’m on the podium. I was just one gear too hard, and then your punch is not enough. So it is what it is."

How it unfolded

The 173.1km stage that started in Pismo Beach and finished in Avila Beach, which is just a few kilometres up the California coastline, featured three intermediate sprints and just one category 3 climb halfway through the day.

Four riders escaped the bunch about 25km into the day. The group included Gregory Daniel (Axeon Cycling), Kiel Reijnen (UnitedHealthcare), William Clarke (Drapac) and Jesse Anthony (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies. The quartet was soon joined by Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) to form a lead group of five.

Skujins' Hincapie Racing team controlled the pace at the front of the chase, and the gap went up to 3:40 before Etixx-QuickStep came to the front to lend a hand, obviously hoping to deliver Mark Cavendish to his third stage win of the week.

The gap started coming down at that point, and the breakaway started to fall apart about 30km into the race, with Daniel and Clarke dropping the rest. Daniel eventually dispatched Clarke as well, and continued on solo, possibly hoping to duplicate Skujins' win the day before.

Daniel had 30 seconds with about 17km remaining. Hincapie and QuickStep continued to drive the pace, and the catch appeared inevitable as echelons started to form behind in the crosswinds.

But the wind never factored into the dynamics, rather it was the late attack of Oss, who tried to surprise the sprinters with a jump under the 1km to go banner. The move shuffled the lead-out trains, and Sagan prevailed in the ensuing chaos.

Skujins was proud to keep the lead after the Hincapie team controlled so much of the race.

"It was big for us just because it was hard because it was windy, but we kept it in check, and Quickstep did a lot of work. That was awesome. No other teams helped, which was surprising, because I thought MTN or Tinkoff-Saxo or Drapac would at least do something. But they all waited for the final. It worked out for us, so all is well," Skujins said.

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