Tour of California: Kristoff wins in Santa Rosa

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) held off a fast-finishing Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) Saturday in Santa Rosa to claim the stage 7 honours at the Tour of California. Team Sky's Danny van Poppel was third.

Despite constant pressure from his general classification rivals, race leader Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-QuickStep) finished in the lead group to stay in yellow heading into Sunday's final stage.

"It was a hard day," Kristoff said in the post-stage press conference, where he was seated next to Sagan. "This guy was pretty strong, and we were having trouble to catch him. For me it was more than enough just to sit in the back. I was suffering all day, and at the end I was feeling quite tired and I knew everybody else would be tired also."

The penultimate day's route that started and finished in Santa Rosa looked like a monster on paper, and that proved to be the case as the peloton traversed narrow, rough, winding roads as they climbed the coastal range and dropped down to the Pacific ocean before going up and over again for the return trip.

Sagan hopped into a breakaway on the outbound trip and then rode solo for nearly 30km before succumbing to the Katusha and Direct Energie chase.

"I was surprised looking by my side at the finish line and I saw him there," Kristoff said of his Slovakian rival. "He was there all the time on the front and also a long time by himself, so he had a really strong ride today. For me it was good that he used a lot of energy because then at the end I just managed to beat him."

How it happened

The chaotic 175.5 km stage featured two intermediate sprints and six categorised climbs, including the category 1 ascent up King Ridge Road summit.

Shortly after the Harrison Grade Road KOM, which Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) won, the main break of the day formed with 14 riders. Chaos ensued as race radio and the commissaires repeatedly lost communication on the narrow, tree-lined coastal roads.

Multiple teams were represented in the move, which contained a handful of big names, including Sagan, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing), Toms Skujins (Cannondale), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), and mountains classification leader Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling).

The peloton did not give the breakaway much room, keeping the move pegged at less than two minutes for most of the race. The chase was primarily driven by Etixx-Quickstep, riding in support of Julian Alaphilippe's yellow jersey, and Direct Energie, riding for sprinter Bryan Coquard.

Huffman secured the climbers jersey on the second KOM of the day, crossing the line first, followed by teammate Danny Pate.

Sagan shattered the lead group on the Hauser Bridge climb 79km into the race, cutting the move down to six riders. The new lead group included Sagan, Van Avermaet, Krists Neilands (Axeon-Hagens Berman), George Bennett (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), Robbie Squire (Holowesko Citadel), and Javier Megias Leal (Team Novo Nordisk.)

Sagan grew increasingly frustrated with his breakaway companions and attacked the move heading into the second intermediate sprint at Carmet Beach. Van Avermaet functioned as the main anchor in the lead group, protecting team leaders Rohan Dennis and Brent Bookwalter, and refused to take any turns at the front.

Sagan then soloed away, won the intermediate sprint and gained a minute on the break as they headed up Coleman Valley Road to the final KOM.

Back in the field, Lawson Craddock (Cannondale Pro Cycling) attacked and bridged across to the lead group, lending his strength to the chase, but the move had lost steam.

"It was just a really aggressive day of racing all around," Craddock said. "Everyone wanted to make it hard, and that's exactly what we did. Oh my god! California stepped it up this year. It was a really brutal race, but it was a lot of fun."

With Katusha leading the peloton along with Direct Energie and Etixx-QuickStep, the Craddock group and then Sagan were reabsorbed as the field drove to the finishing circuits in Santa Rosa.

Katusha pushed to the front in the final 10km of the race and maintained position at the front in support of Kristoff. With 1km to go, Sagan attached himself to Kristoff's wheel. Kristoff jumped first, and despite a huge surge and violent bike throw, Sagan could not come around. 

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