Tour of California: Rohan Dennis wins Folsom time trial

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Rohan Dennis gave BMC Racing its first stage win of the Amgen Tour of California this year after several near misses. The Australian champion scorched the 20.3km course in Folsom on stage 6, winning by 17 seconds over US time trial champion Andrew Talansky (Cannondale). Dennis' teammate, Taylor Phinney, set the early fast time and held on for third place, 20 seconds slower.

Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quickstep) put in an impressive performance to hold onto the yellow jersey. The Frenchman finished eighth on the stage, losing 45 seconds to Dennis but distancing himself from former challenger Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo), who lost 1:40 to the race leader. Brent Bookwalter (BMC) held his own, moving into third place over George Bennett (LottoNl-Jumbo), who, like Stetina, had an off-day.

Dennis moved into second overall, 16 seconds from Alaphilippe, while Bookwalter sits 38 seconds adrift.

Neilson Powless (Axeon Hagens Berman), the best young rider, continued to impress with 10th on the stage, keeping the white jersey and fifth on the general classification behind Talansky.

Although Dennis won by a comfortable margin, he said time splits and information he was getting from the team car had him a bit confused out on the course.

"I was little bit worried about halfway," he said of his race. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Katusha), who started before Dennis, flew to the intermediate split and then faded. But Dennis wasn't sure if he had won the day or if Phinney was still in the lead.

"Van den Broeck was 27 seconds up on Taylor, and the car was saying I was 21," Dennis said. "I was confused. [BMC director Valerio Piva] is Italian, and I thought maybe that was the end time, that Van den Broeck was up. I got confused and then he said that he blew the whole way home and Taylor was still the fastest time and Talansky was 20 seconds up. Really, the last 5k I felt like I was tasting metal in my mouth. I was just lactic the whole way. I didn't really know until the last couple hundred metres that I'd actually got the fastest time at that point."

Read more on this story:

• Tour of California: Soren Kragh Andersen earns Cyclingnews rider of the day honours
• Tour of California: Talansky, Phinney lead US riders in Folsom time trial
• Tour of California stage 6 highlights - Video
• Stetina drops off Tour of California podium after Folsom time trial

Talansky didn't suffer from confusion, but he did suffer immensely on the way back after setting the fastest time at the intermediate sprint.

"I race my best time trials by feel," he said. "I don't like to hear time splits. I don't really like anything. They told me I had the best time at the turnaround, and that was obviously motivating. I'm pretty pleased with the ride. I obviously went pretty hard on the way out and suffered and paid for it on the way back. But I think it worked out pretty well."

How it happened

The relatively flat 20.3km out-and-back time trial in Folsom took place on an almost identical course as the time trial stage in the 2014 race. Bradley Wiggins covered the 2014 course in 23:18, but an extra half kilometre and increasing winds throughout the afternoon slowed all of the riders' times this year.

Tinkoff's Oscar Gatto, starting eighth just ahead of Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) and Wiggins, was the first rider to go full gas over the route and put up a mark of 26:54. Wiggins languished 42 seconds slower than Gatto at the first time check, and it was clear that he wouldn't repeat his 2014 win.

Team Sky's Andy Fenn snuck in with the next fastest time, clocking in one second ahead of Gatto, but his time in the hot seat was equally short lived, as Cannondale's Alan Marangoni pipped his time at the line. The game of musical chairs with hot seat continued as Andrew Tennant (Team Wiggins), who started just two riders later, came in with the new best time of 26:23.

Jelly Belly's 22-year-old rider Ben Wolfe was the first to crack 26 minutes, crossing the line in 25:50 to snag the lead from Tennant, whose teammate Owain Doull returned the favour when he crushed the course in 25:21.

World Champion Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) was the next f the pre-race favourites to cross the line, living up to his billing with a new best time of 25 minutes even. The powerful rider from Belarus crashed twice during the week, making his effort even more impressive, but it wasn't enough to hold off a highly motivated and flying-fast Phinney, who was the first rider to come in below 25 minutes at 24:36.69.

Phinney looked like he might lose his spot in the hot seat when Giant-Alpecin's Soren Kragh Andersen set a quicker time at the turnaround, but the 21-year-old Dane lost some time on the return trip and missed toppling Phinney by 13 seconds.

From there it was a series of close calls as Phinney time stood, but when the general classification riders hit the course Phinney's time looked vulnerable. Katusha's Jurgen Van den Broeck, the Belgian time trial champion, crossed the intermediate time check 27 seconds faster then Phinney, with Cannondale's Lawson Craddock besting Phinney's halfway mark.

US time trial champion Andrew Talansky tied Van Den Broeck's time at the intermediate sprint as the top 10 in the overall race began to shuffle.
Van den Broeck also faded over the closing Kilometres, crossing the line in 25:06 for fourth at the time.

Talansky managed the pacing on the tricky course better than Van den Broeck, holding onto the advantage he carried at the time check by a mere three seconds at the line to take over the stage lead.

Talanky's lead lasted only until Dennis finished, however, with the Australian champion coming in 17 seconds faster and assuming his familiar place in a time trial hot seat.

Dennis' bid for the overall lead put the pressure in Alaphilippe, who needed to finish in 25:17 to hold onto his yellow jersey. His time of 25:01 bought him another at least another day in yellow. 

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