Tour of California: Majka wins stage 2

Rafal Majka won Monday's second stage of the Amgen Tour of California, taking the win out of a select four-man group outside of San Jose. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider narrowly beat LottoNL-Jumbo's George Bennett at the line, with Ian Boswell (Team Sky) claiming third ahead of Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data).

Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) led a larger selection of GC hopefuls across the line 37 seconds later, with the likes of Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) and Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) in the group as well.

Bennett spurred the decisive move out of the peloton on the Mt. Hamilton climb, pulling Majka, Boswell and Morton along to link up with Cannondale-Drapac's Toms Skujins, UnitedHealthcare's Daniel Jaramillo and Dimension Data's Scott Thwaites, the last survivors of the early break. Jaramillo and Thwaites were dropped before long, but Skujins stayed in contention with the others until taking a nasty fall on the steep descent that followed the Quimby Road climb. He ultimately abandoned the race.

Majka now leads the Tour of California with a two-second advantage over Bennett, while Boswell sits in third, 14 seconds down.

"I felt really strong today. We all worked together well and I knew we were in the right move because we were all strong guys," said Majka. "In the end I didn't want to miss the sprint, so I went early, but was strong enough to stay in front. This is my first win for Bora-Hansgrohe, which is really special to me, and I dedicate it to my daughter, who was born three months ago. Thanks also to my team mates – we have a great spirit and always work together well."

How it unfolded

The climber-friendly stage saw aggressive racing throughout the day. The battle for the breakaway was fierce, with the day's main escape only getting clear after 35 kilometres.

Skujins, Thwaites, Jaramillo, Danny Van Poppel (Team Sky), Chris Hamilton (Team Sunweb) (Dimension Data) and Tanner Putt (UnitedHealthcare) formed the six-man breakaway as the road began to tilt upward at a gentle gradient toward the first categorised climb of the day.

Jaramillo showed his intent in the mountains classification battle early, grabbing the KOM points over the first climb, and then the second, and then the third. Hamilton was the first to drop from the break on the lumpy profile, with Van Poppel following soon after. Then Tanner Putt lost touch, leaving a trio of riders out front.

Skujins began to show himself as the strongest rider in the break on the hors categorie Mt. Hamilton. He dropped Thwaites and Jaramillo going over the top as Majka led the key move out of the pack behind. Overnight race leader Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step Floors) was dropped, as were a number of other sprinters.

Majka's group quickly tracked down Thwaites and Jaramillo and then joined up with Skujins. That made for seven riders in the lead: Skujins, Jaramillo, Thwaites, Boswell, Morton, Majka and Bennett.

Seven became five on the early slopes of the short but very steep Quimby Rd. climb as Jaramillo and Thwaites lost touch. The peloton behind fell to pieces with the high speeds and lumpy profile, with dozens of riders losing touch from the main chase group as the likes of Cannondale-Drapac's Andrew Talansky and BMC's Brent Bookwalter pushed to limit their losses to the escapees.

Read more on this story

• Skujins crashes out of Tour of California
• Tour of California: LottoNL-Jumbo incites GC battle on stage 2
• Tour of California: Stage 2 highlights - Video
• Majka takes control of Tour of California with San Jose stage win

The remaining quintet stayed mostly together on the ascent before Majka made a move near the summit, taking the KOM points going over the top. The Pole then shot off down a tricky, high-speed descent, with the other four escapees in pursuit.

The descent proved costly for Skujins, who hit the deck very hard rounding a bend. The Latvian struggled to remount, appearing dazed in the road, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the riders in the chasing group half a minute later. He got back into the saddle eventually and pedalled on for another few minutes before climbing off and pulling out of the race.

Up front, Bennett, Boswell and Morton rejoined Majka to make for a four-man lead group. Cannondale pushed the pace in the 20-man chase group, but the quartet took nearly a minute into the last 10 kilometres, working well together to hold off the pursuit.

Even on the uphill drag to the line, the four riders kept the advantage relatively steady, holding their fire until the final kilometre. Majka set the pace through the flamme rouge. Boswell made a probing attack that Majka immediately shut down, and then Morton made a dig in earnest, but Bennett closed the gap and then launched an attack of his own. Only Majka could follow.

Majka took the lead rounding the final bend and looked to have the energy for a clear win at the line but Bennett did not give up. He rode Majka very close in the last hundred metres but couldn't quite come past, with Majka taking the victory and the yellow jersey at the line.

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