Tour of California 2016: Stage 5

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January 1 - May 22, Lodi, California, Road - 2.HC

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Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California, a 210km trek from Lodi to Lake Tahoe.

Analysing the GC contenders  |  Start list  |  Stage 5 maps and profile

Hello and welcome back to Cyclingnews continued live coverage of the Tour of California. We're in Lodi for the start of the men's stage 5, and will also be giving some updates from the first Women's WorldTour stage.

The men are starting early again, as their race is 212km long, actually - they are off on their neutral laps in Lodi.

The women's stage circles Lake Tahoe, and is 117km long. They'll push off for a neutral lap at 10:50 am local time.

The men will be looking forward to a strong SSW wind today, pushing them all the way up into the mountains. The cross-tailwind should help ease the pain of the uphill profile for the day.

GC standings after stage 5

We were deeply saddened to learn of the death yesterday of one of the motorcycle drivers who are on the race this week. We expect to have more information later today on the tragedy.

The riders are enjoying another beautiful California day - it's 70, sunny, and not windy...yet. It's expected to get quite breezy as they head up into the Sierra Nevada mountains. They're passing through some massive vineyards - of course, because cycling and wine country go hand in hand.

Cannondale are on the front keeping the pace high. Though they led the race for a day with Ben King, their GC hopes have taken a beating over the past two stages. It's another chance today to shake things up before the time trial, but race leader Alaphilippe is looking strong this week.

Yesterday Mark Cavendish went in the breakaway for over 100km, and got both the blue jersey for most courageous and Cyclingnews' Rider of the Day award.

202km remaining from 213km

Cavendish must have been inspired by that Rider of the Day award as he's gone on the attack again! He's off the front with green jersey and stage 4 winner Peter Sagan and a few other riders.

196km remaining from 213km

193km remaining from 213km

The peloton is mixed on whether or not today's stage will be decisive for the overall classification.

190km remaining from 213km

However, the winds are coming from the riders' right side, and the cross-tailwind is a good way to split up the peloton with echelons.

The group ahead is:

184km remaining from 213km

Bouet is the highest placed rider on GC at 4:15

181km remaining from 213km

Nobody in the peloton is going to panic. Cannondale, Trek, Etixx, Tinkoff, Sky, Katusha, BMC, Jumbo and Dimension Data are all represented. In fact, only Novo Nordisk and Holowesko have missed the move, and they have little incentive to chase. This could be interesting as the gap goes over 5 minutes.

Trek-Segafredo have been forced to take charge of the peloton as Etixx-Quickstep are happy to let the race leadership change hands.

Up in Lake Tahoe, the women are getting warmed up for their stage and are nervously eyeing the flags blowing in the 25mph winds. It's going to be a tough one for both fields today.

Not to be too girly, but in order to separate the information for the Women's WorldTour race from the men, I'll put the pink jersey icon in each women's entry - just for better visual reference.

(Not to be too girly, but in order to separate the information for the Women's WorldTour race from the men, I'll put the pink jersey icon in each women's entry - just for better visual reference. )

171km remaining from 213km

There is nothing stopping the tailwind from helping the men sail up the road toward the first sprint at Sutter Hill, which comes 66km into the stage. It's wide open with only a few sturdy oak trees dotted on the rolling hills.

The women have set off for their 4k neutral start.

We have a statement from AEG on the fatality in the race yesterday:

Cyclingnews would like to send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Rob Llewelyn.

Lindsay Bayer (Hagens Berman-Supermint) is the first attacker in the women's race. Brave soul, she hit out into the raging headwind.

Lachlan Morton (Jelly Belly) has abandoned the race. That's a huge blow for the Australian, who won the Tour of the Gila and was riding very strong here. He crashed yesterday before the second to last climb and finished 10 minutes off the back.

154km remaining from 213km

153km remaining from 213km

In the women's race, Bayer's attack was reeled back in after 10km of racing, but four riders have counter-attacked.

The women are all together 15km into the race, and facing the first KOM of the day just ahead.

147km remaining from 213km

Sprint 1:

So Bouet is padding his 'virtual' lead over his teammate Alaphilippe at the moment thanks to the three seconds of time bonuses in Sutter Hill.

Women QOM 1:

141km remaining from 213km

In case you missed yesterday's Tour of California stage, we have video highlights of a day that had a slow burn, but a big explosion of action in the finale.

The leaders have passed out of the grassy foothills and into the pine forests that signal the start of the Eldorado National Forest. Peppered in with the pines are some scrub oaks.

31k into the women's race, and Dame Sarah Storey has a full two minutes' lead on a diminished peloton.

Check that, 2:45 with 200m to the sprint in Tahoma at 36.5km into the women's race for Storey.

On the men's side, they are still on the fastest schedule, clocking 26mph over the first two hours of racing. The gap has come down some to 3:40.

Sprint 2: 

The breakaway is struggling up a 10 percent grade, and the gap has come down to 3:15.

127km remaining from 213km

One of the big names in the race is Greg Van Avermaet (BMC). He's recovered from the broken collarbone that ruined his Tour of Flanders, and showed he's back on track with second place on yesterday's stage. More on the story here.

Dame Sarah Storey is on a serious tear here- she's passed Tahoe City 50k into the stage and has 3:15 on the bunch. That's an amazing feat for the multi-time Paralympic champion.

The leaders of the men's race are passing by the Mokelumne Wilderness - it's a beautiful tract that has been protected for 50 years. It's got volcanic peaks and deep granite canyons, and is home to the rare phantom orchid. It's a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city.

The gap to Storey is up to 3:30, and now Canyon-SRAM has come to the front of the peloton to chase.

Storey's solo gap is out to 4:05 after 60km - the peloton seems to be napping. Will the Briton catch them out? 

109km remaining from 213km

Storey just keeps on piling onto her advantage - passing Incline Village at the very northern point of the route, she has 4:45 on the jetlagged peloton.

What do you call a chicken staring at a lettuce...?Chicken sees a salad!

That bad joke courtesy of Adam Blythe, who is enjoying his time in the breakaway.

Logan Owen (Axeon Hagens Berman) is not only a multi-time national cyclo-cross champion, he's shown his talents on the road and this year won the U23 Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He's also engaged to multiple world champion (2x junior and team pursuit) Chloe Dygert. 

Xabier Zandio is 39 years of age and the oldest rider in the race - he's two weeks older than Haimar Zubeldia.

Storey's solo romp continues as she has 4:45 on the bunch - but it's about to get more difficult as she battles a stiff crosswind and then cross head-wind.

101km remaining from 213km

Caleb Fairly is in his second year with Giant-Alpecin, but it won't be a full year - he announced earlier this month that Tour of California will be his final race with the team.

29km to go for Sarah Storey. She went on a similar attack last year, but her gap never got as big as the one she has here. Can she hold on to take victory?

96km remaining from 213km

It’s somewhat of a surprise to see Jacopo Guarnieri (Katusha) in the break. The 28-year-old Italian was signed to Katusha, from Astana, in order to lead out Kristoff in the sprints. He’s done a fine job so far and has become of the most important support riders for the Norwegian since 2015. He came through the ranks in the Italian U23 scene and won national track titles. He won two stages in the Tour of Poland but didn’t quite make it as a sprinter in his own right.

Toms Skujins is new to Cannondale this year, having made his name with the Hincapie team last year when he won a stage in Tour of California and held the lead for three days.

Storey is still holding 4:20 as she rounds the lake, but there's a section with strong headwinds that could make her life very difficult. It would be an amazing feat if she could hold onto such a large lead.

Owain Doull and Mark Christian are setting the pace as the breakaway climbs to 6000ft.

Storey has reached 25k to go and still hanging on. Last year, her attack ended on Spooner Summit, which comes around 23k to go - if she can last that long she can stand a good chance of winning this stage.

Doull rode well on the road in 2014 when he picked up a few results in Europe, including fourth in the Tour of Flanders. He’s here with Wiggins – the team and the rider – as part of his preparation for the Rio Olympic Games. Wiggins has been a real mentor for Doull. At the finish of the 2015 worlds U23 time trial, CN spoke to Doull. He had notes written on his hands and arms, a tip regarding concentration that Wiggins had passed onto him.

20km to go

91km remaining from 213km

Nikolas Maes is the second Etixx QuickStep rider in the break. He heralds from Kortrijk in Belgium. It’s a small but pretty city and one where a number of cycling teams base themselves during the spring classics. Tip: come out of the main train station and cross the road and you’ll see the Park Hotel. That’s where Tinkoff and Katusha tend to stay for several weeks. It’s where Riis used to base his squads too. Just on the other side of town BMC and Sky are situated. A few doors down from the Team Sky hotel is one of the best restaurants in Belgium - best Flemish stew you’ll ever have.

Just 15 km to go for Storey and she still has 2:25- have the peloton left this too late?

Oh dear, the gap is coming down very rapidly now. Just 2:00 - that climb to the finish line is going to hurt Storey.

It's Boels-Dolmans setting the devastating tempo at the front - they're responsible for whittling down Storey's gap.

84km remaining from 213km

Oh dear oh dear, Storey's lead has been nearly obliterated by Boels Dolmans - down to just 1:15 with 10k to go!

The men's breakaway has reached the snow line - there's some white stuff along the road and the temps are quite cool. But they're safe, because the sun is out, however, tomorrow snow is predicted so the race is leaving Tahoe just in the nick of time.

It's amazing how quickly the gap is falling - 40 seconds now and all of the cars are being pushed ahead out of the gap.

25 seconds now for Sarah Storey - it's not looking good as she has more than 5k to go. But she has been awarded the most courageous jersey and will take the QOM jersey just as she did last year.

The peloton can see our solo attacker and she will be caught. Correction - she didn't get the QOM, but will be in blue tomorrow.

It's all together - Storey was away for 90km and it proved about 6km too long.

Rally Cycling is now leading the pack. They've got Sara Poidevin, a great young climber, and Jasmin Glaesser on the team. Glaesser was third in the Tour of the Gila recently.

Of course we can't discount Marianne Vos, Megan Guarnier, Mara Abbott, Emma Johansson or last year's winner Katie Hall for this finish.

78km remaining from 213km

3km to go for the women, but 2k of that is uphill. It's going to be a big battle for the stage win!

2k to go for the women - there was a crash in the peloton but the riders are back up.

Last kilometer! 

Boels Dolmans are leading out the uphill sprint.

Megan Guarnier attacks!

Megan Guarnier finishes off Boels Dolman's fine work with the first win of the WorldTour race! 

Emma Johansson (Wiggle-High5) was second, with Kristin Armstrong (Twenty16-RideBiker) in third.

Evelyn Stevens was fourth.

67km remaining from 213km

63km remaining from 213km

Jesse Anthony is coming back to the peloton with a jersey full of bottles. Luckily he's back on a small descent, so it's easier, especially with the added weight.

Fairly takes his pull in the breakway, and then pulls off to let Janse Van Rensburg take over. The South African has another rider of the same surname on Dimension Data, but they aren't actually related. Jacques is in the breakaway, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg is at the Tour of Norway.

Logan Owen is spinning a small gear as he leads the breakaway up a climb. De Vos is looking much more labored as he grinds an Ullrich-like gear.

Logan Owen is spinning a small gear as he leads the breakaway up a climb. De Vos is looking much more labored as he grinds an Ullrich-like gear.

One rider who's back in the peloton waiting to do his job is American Alexey Vermeulen, who races for LottoNl-Jumbo. It was an unusual bit of good luck for him to sign with the WorldTour team - you can find out more about him in this interview.

We appreciate the organisation making accommodations for the press to cover the women at the same time as the men - but I remember one time when Ina Teutenberg gave them a very hard time, saying the men would never be forced to wait around for two hours for the women!

De Vos might have been pedaling squares, but it worked, and he's gone after the KOM points and kept going. Skujins was second over the top.

The peloton is enjoying a quick descent as they pass the last remnants of snowpack - courtesy of some nice El Niño precipitation this winter. It's nice to see snowpack after the drought last year made for bare mountains.

54km remaining from 213km

Skujins and De Vos have a 20 second lead on the rest of the breakaway.

Danilo Wyss is the only rider from BMC Racing in the break, and they're working here for Brent Bookwalter. Wyss, like Bookwalter, has been with BMC for the vast majority of his career. The Swiss rider was a trainee at Saunier Duval in 2007 and finished fifth in the U23 worlds later that year. He’s a solid team rider and was part of the TTT stage wining team at BMC during last year’s Tour de France. He also won the Swiss national road title earlier that year and has picked up a few decent results already this season.

51km remaining from 213km

50km remaining from 213km

Skujins and De Vos have extended their lead to 45 seconds on the ridge - meanwhile the peloton is 3:50 behind them and not doing much in the way of chasing.

48km remaining from 213km

I'm not sure what's up with the swimming-related fan costumes. Yesterday it was a man in board shorts and bare feet with a surfboard on the KOM, today it's a pair of swimmers - in bikinis and swim caps.

De Vos gets the points over Skujins, then they're closely followed over the top by Jones, Zandio, Wyss, Stuyven and few others

It looks like De Vos, Skujins, Wyss, Stuyven, Jones, Zandio and the two Etixx riders are ahead of their respective team cars, then the rest of the breakaway is between them at the peloton - which is at 4:35 according to the time board. They just passed the KOM.

Correction, it's De Vos, Skujins, Wyss, Stuyven, Jones, Bouet, Zandio and Rathe. Maes is in the chasing group.

40km remaining from 213km

38km remaining from 213km

It seems one of the WIGGINS riders has not made the bridge.

There are only 16 riders in the front group, so someone else didn't make it across. 

We don't see the bright yellow of Tinkoff, so it seems Blythe has gone back to the peloton.

34km remaining from 213km

32km remaining from 213km

Whoops, correction. We didn't see the attack but Skujins is off the FRONT, not the back of the breakaway.

Taylor Phinney is taking up the chase from the peloton, which is reportedly three minutes behind Skujins, with the rest of the chase at 25 seconds.

29km remaining from 213km

26km remaining from 213km

25km remaining from 213km

23km remaining from 213km

We have full results from the women's stage 1.

18km remaining from 213km

16km remaining from 213km

The roads are quite a bit rougher for the breakaway - the effects of a snowy winter still apparent. Meanwhile, the Phinney-led breakaway is on the smooth highway, not putting too much care into the chase.

It seems the peloton has had a general regrouping - Angus Morton is at the back, probably sad that his brother had to abandon today.

Oscar Gatto (Tinkoff) is swinging a bit at the back through the twists and turns. Tinkoff have put one rider up behind Phinney to help.

Just in case you were wondering, Sagan is in the peloton. Trek-Segafredo have put a few riders up front with Phinney. 

11km remaining from 213km

10km remaining from 213km

While Skujins has a win in this race, Zandio has never thrown up his arms in victory in a UCI race, even if he's won two TTTs and the GC in the Vuelta Burgos.

8km remaining from 213km

Maes and Tulik have left the rest of their chasing group behind.

Wyss sensed the danger and bridged across, but he really just welded the chase back together.

Bouet is still in the chasing group, which has come back together. Attack from a Wiggins rider from this group.

5km remaining from 213km

4km remaining from 213km

Stuyven and Guarnieri have caught Christian and he has to push hard to stay on their wheel. He's not quite there.

2km remaining from 213km

Skujins, Zandio and De Vos continue to work together.

The altitude and two very long stages are starting to show on these riders. No attacks yet and almost to the 1km to go banner.

0km remaining from 213km

They don't even look like they know it's 500m to go! Wyss has left the others behind.

Skujins looks and Zandio tries to switch sides of the road to get a gap - no go.

No one wants to sprint first.

They're all out of the saddle, no sprints yet. 

The leaders are inside the final 300m and still no jump. Stuyven (not Wyss) can see them ahead.

The leaders have made the turn to the finish - De Vos goes first!

But Skujins gets on his wheel.

De Vos can't hold on and Skujins gets Cannondale's second win of the week!

Zandio comes in third, while Stuyven comes in 29 seconds later. That was perhaps the longest kilometer in the history of bike racing.

Sagan comes in near the back of the group, happy for this stage just to be over we think.

Once again the young riders are shining in this race - Skujins showed that he's earned his World Tour contract with that jump. De Vos had no answer.

Stage results:

The peloton really left it late, but fortunately for Alaphilippe, none of the riders ahead were of threat.

Stetina was in that group, so he keeps 2nd place overall.

Thanks for reading! Join us tomorrow for the women's team time trial, followed by the men's individual time trial.

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