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Tour of California 2019: Stage 6

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Looks like the men won't be starting for another few minutes.

The stage information is, of course, hampered by the lack of cellular signal and internet coverage in the hills above Ontario, please be patient as we try to get a handle on the situation for the women's race. It seems Rivera's group has 30 seconds on the race leader Anna van der Breggen.

The men's field has been held up by a mechanical, no start yet.

Rigoberto Uran had an issue so the race waited for the EF Education First team to help him out.

About 5km left in the women's race, as Hammes and Shapira are distancing Rivera a bit.

Hammes is solo now, as Shapira loses contact. 3.5km to go for her.

A flurry of attacks shoot off the front of the men's field as they speed out of Ontario. Nine riders have a gap and there are a few chasers.

The leaders are:
Owain Doull (Team Ineos)
Lennard Hofstede (Team Jumbo-Visma)
Matteo Fabbro (Katusha-Alpecin)
Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
Juraj Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Bernhard Eisel (Dimension Data)
Michael Storer (Team Sunweb)
Mikkel Bjerg (Hagens Berman Axeon)

Niewiadoma, van der Breggen and Moolman Pasio have attacked with 3km to go on Baldy.

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Hofstede was in the breakaway all day yesterday, while Storer and Bernas were off the front on stage 2.

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And the juraj's out on this breakaway. Juraj Sagan, that is. He's been dropped on this nasty climb.

If Juraj has the descending skills of his more famous brother, he should be able to get back on, they're nearly to the top. It's a hairy as heck descent on the other side...

Chasing behind the leaders is Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida) and further back Holst Enger. The peloton is keeping this in check at 2:20.

95km remaining from 127km

Well heck, it looks like Pernsteiner made it to that breakaway after all! This is why Cyclingnews blimp keeps the eyes on the race at all times!
 

We've introduced Pernsteiner already, but didn't mention he's a former MTB specialist who joined Bahrain-Merida last year.

You can find the full results of the women's race here, we'll be adding the report and photos soon!

Inexplicably, sprinter Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep) has decided to try to bridge across to the leaders on the descent. Presumably he's having a lot of fun on the twisty road down.

We're hearing that Jakobsen was the actual winner of the first sprint not Stybar, sorry about that. He was in the first breakaway but has been caught by the peloton now.

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Back to our current breakaway, we've got Hugo Houle in the move. The Canadian workhorse has been in the WorldTour since 2013 first with AG2R La Mondiale before moving to Astana last year. He won the PanAmerican Games TT in 2015.

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Part of the reason that information is hard to come by is the cars can't get very close to the riders because of the fast descent. Once we get back into flat ground we should know more. A non-English speaking radio tour also makes it difficult on the 'mericans.

Pawel Bernas (CCC) is an interesting rider. He's 28 and finally made it to the WorldTour after kicking around various Conti and Pro Conti teams. But when the Polish sponsor of his 2018 team stepped in to save BMC, Bernas was taken along for the ride. It seems to be suiting him well, as he's had some good results - 8th in Drenthe, and 7th in yesterday's stage.

It seems Juraj Sagan has completely ruined my previous joke, as the juraj is not out of the breakaway. There are eight riders confirmed: Houle, Fabbro, Doull, Bernas, Hofstede, Bjerg, Storer and Sagan Sr.

In case you missed the Giro d'Italia stage today, you can check out the highlights from a wicked fast day of racing here.

Shout out to former Tour of California race director Andrew Messick, now runs Ironman. Messick ran the first six or seven editions before leaving AEG, but still follows the race on Cyclingnews!

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Also shout out to Bobke Roll who is also following the Tour of California on Cyclingnews.

Van Garderen had a puncture, but he's not too far back, and after stage 4 he is well acquainted with chasing back on... Luckily it happened on the flatter section between the mountains.

Right after the sprint it's time for some refreshments, and Juraj Sagan fishes through his musette for some energy gel.

Stage 5 winner Ivan Garcia is enjoying his time in the California sun. He's back in the back of the bunch chit chatting with a Novo Nordisk rider. Meanwhile, we have a move from Dimension Data.

Di Data appear to be trying to launch Ben King up the road.

Alex Hoehn tacked smartly onto this move, as has Nathan Haas. João Almeida (Hagens Berman) is also trying to get across.

40km remaining from 127km

Almeida is about to make contact, and they'll soon be on the climb proper.

This is a motivated group, and Almeida showed great strength dancing across to the chasers. Of course, it's always better to get on the train before it leaves the station.


4:45 from the leaders to the peloton, the chase group only has a dozen seconds on them.

The leaders are making their way to the Glendora KOM, it's a steady climb, not as steep as Baldy but still hard. Back when it was part of the San Dimas Stage Race as a time trial, the guys would big ring it.

Hofstede attacks.

Storer is trying to go across and then four more riders are chasing.

The peloton snakes its way up the first switchbacks, with a clear view of the exurbs below. Storer and Hofstede have four riders chasing - Houle, Fabbro, Bernas and Doull - with the others at 25 seconds.

A gruppetto has formed on this climb already, with Cavendish and Sagan involved.

The chasers are making it back up to Storer and Hofstede, with Fabbro shutting down the gap.

King's group is stuck in no-man's land, not gaining time on the peloton or closing in on the leaders. Just steadily at 45 seconds form the peloton.

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The peloton is single file behind Mads Pedersen of Trek-Segafredo, with spectacular views of the mountains and no time to stop and get a selfie.

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The King group knows they're getting caught as the motorbikes come past. Meanwhile, up ahead, Houle takes a big pull as they get within 5km of the KOM and start seeing some spectators.

The peloton is bearing down on King's group like a Danish diesel train.

Ballerini won't get any KOM points today as he's dropped from the peloton. But he's not under threat of losing the polka dot jersey.

29km remaining from 127km

Hoehn is back in the boomerang position, after his attack he's struggling to keep in contact with the peloton.

5km to go to the KOM and we're starting to see pockets of spectators, many having ridden their bikes up.

That was the 1km mark by the way, and now Fabbro gets the points over Hofstede, and Doull.

27km remaining from 127km

It's nice to see how green the hills are on Glendora, this area was heavily burned in years past, but has recovered well.

As they traverse the flatter top of the hill, the peloton slashes the leaders' gap to 1:30.

25km remaining from 127km

23-year-old Mads Pedersen, second in last year's Tour of Flanders, is putting in an impressive turn at the front. He came to Trek-Segafredo in 2017 having won the U23 Gent-Wevelgem the previous year. He decimated the Tour of Denmark in his first year with the team.

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It's just a matter of time for the breakaway. I'm going to hand off live to Daniel Ostanek now - enjoy the rest of the stage!

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