Tour of California: Bennett moves into yellow after Big Bear time trial

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George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) rode his way into the yellow jersey at the Amgen Tour of California on Friday, beating overnight leader Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the stage 6 Big Bear Lake time trial by 59 seconds to claim the race lead.

Team Sky's Jonathan Dibben took the stage win, covering the 24km route in 28:27, seven seconds better than runner-up Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing), who moved into fourth overall with his performance. Cannondale-Drapac's Andrew Talansky finished third, 16 seconds behind Dibben and moved into third overall.

Bennett, who finished fourth on the day, now leads Majka by 35 seconds in the overall, with Talansky in third at 36 seconds and Bookwalter 45 seconds back.

Ian Boswell (Team Sky) finished 21st on the day and slipped off the overall podium to fifth, while Dimension Data's Lachlan Morton suffered an untimely mechanical and finished 49th, slipping from fifth to ninth.

While Bennett said in the post-race press conference that he was surprised that the day ended with himself in yellow, Dibben said he was even more shocked with his stage win.

"I think George said it was disbelief, and I can certainly tell you it’s certainly a bigger shock for me. At altitude you can’t really afford to go into the red too much, and so I didn’t bother with any sort of pacing there, I just sort of went out there and let the pain come to me. After a few K I was already screaming and I just kept digging in."

Bennett, meanwhile, had previously told Cyclingnews he thought he'd need at least 90 seconds on riders like Talansky and Bookwalter heading into the time trial if he wanted to keep his podium spot. He went into the day with less than a minute, but his performance carried him through. His effort on course even caught hm by surprise.

"I was riding and I didn’t hear much over the radio, then just about halfway my director suddenly lit up and just got super excited, yelling in my ear and I knew that something was happening," Bennett said. "It wasn’t really until a couple of K to go that I really stepped into it. I crossed the line and knew I had a good time. I was like third or fourth or something. I was waiting for the clock to tick down and it was a pretty nervous few minutes."

How it unfolded

The 24km time trial course in Big Bear Lake, a picturesque alpine pool about 169km due east from Los Angeles, had a perfectly flat profile and was not especially technical, but the elevation of more than 2,000 metres added an extra challenge.

Twenty-year-old Filippo Ganna (UAE Team Emirates), who started just 13 riders into the 123-rider field, set the best early time with a ride of 28:48, backing up previous results he achieved in the U23 ranks.

Ganna's early start time and quick result meant a long day in the hot seat for the young Italian, as rider after rider approached his time but could not match his effort.

Reigning US time trial champion Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) was the first rider to come close with a mark of 29:03, but BMC's Martin Elmiger came in next with a time of 28:52 to slot into second. Elmiger's mark was also quickly eclipsed when Maciej Bodnar (Bora-Hansgrohe) came in at 28:50, just two seconds off the leader's time.

Ganna's mark eventually fell when Jonathan Dibben (Team Sky) crossed the line with an impressive 28:27, 21 seconds better than the previous fastest time. The 23-year-old Briton also had an impressive time trial palmares from his U23 racing.

Dibben's mark was briefly threatened by Peter Sagan as the world champion rolled over the, but Sagan slowed in the second half of the route and crossed the line at 28:50 to slot into third.

Dibben's mark held as the general classification contenders started, which saw Morton suffer a devastating blow with a mechanical issue as he rolled out of the start house. The rider who started the day fourth overall was quickly on a replacement race machine and back in the race.

Among the GC contenders, Bookwalter, starting fifth from last, came in with a time of that slotted him into second behind Dibben with just Morton, Talansky, Boswell, Bennett and Majka still on course.

Morton managed a time of 30:22, but Talansky finished just a handful of seconds later with the third-best time of the day at 28:43. Boswell finished next in 29:26 and slipped a few spots on the GC.

Bennett came in next, riding a 28:45 over the 24km to move into first place overall after Majka finished in 29:26.

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