Tour of California: Tadej Pogacar wins stage 6 on Mt. Baldy

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took control at the Tour of California with victory on stage 6 of the race on the summit of Mt. Baldy on Friday. The Slovenian matched several attacks from Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) on the final climb, catching the Colombian's final assault with one kilometre to go, before taking a better line through the final corner and edging the pint-sized climber on the line. George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) finished third, while Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) took fourth.

Overnight leader Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) cracked with 4.2km to go on the final climb as the pure climbers began to make their moves. He was joined out of the back by Gianni Moscon (Team Ineos) and several other pre-race favourites. Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) began the day in second overall and set his own pace on the final climb as he strung out the yellow-jersey group. He had no answer, however, when Higuita and Bennett traded initial blows, although he recovered after his main effort.

Pogacar came into the stage lying fourth overall, 16 seconds off van Garderen's controversial lead, and he now leads the race from Higuita by that same margin. Asgreen sits in third, a further four seconds back.

The race came to life long before the final climb, however, when Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked with 14km remaining. The German began the day just 22 seconds off the race lead and his acceleration promoted EF Education First to up the pace alongside Trek-Segafredo, who were hoping to see Porte shine.

Schachmann caught the remnants of the early break but was soon alone on the final climb as the yellow jersey group began to splinter. Moscon was the first GC candidate to fold, but the biggest surprise came when van Garderen almost slowed to a complete halt with 4.2km remaining. The American found a brief period of respite with Rigoberto Uran dropping back to help the race leader, but with Schachmann's time off the front soon to be over, the race was wide open when Bennett moved to the front with 3.9km to go.

The former race winner rose from the saddle and was quickly joined by the strongest riders in the race: Pogacar, Higuita and Porte.

Pogacar kicked with 3.4km to go, with only Higuita able to match the Slovenian's pace. The Colombian returned the favour with a move of his own almost straight away, and it looked as though the rider who only moved into the WorldTour earlier this month would take a famous win and the yellow jersey as he tore up the steepest part of the climb.

However, Pogacar and Bennett were far from spent. They traded turns on the front as Porte struggled to change gear, but as the road rose once more, Pogacar saw off Bennett and caught Higuita with just over one kilometre to go.

In the closing stages it looked as though Bennett had the power to rally but when Higuita kicked for the line the rider from New Zealand had no response. Into the final corner, Higuita had the front but he made a mess of the bend, allowing Pogacar to come through and take the stage, and with it the race lead.

"It was a team effort, for sure," Pogacar told reporters at the finish. "My teammates did a good job of protecting me all day. I just did my best in the last 5km, and was climbing really well today.

"When I got to Higuita, I knew that Bennett was coming, but I waited to start my sprint. Higuita made a mistake on the last corner, and I could take the win," he said.

Bennett told Cyclingnews that he gave it his best shot, but wasn't able to catch Pogacar and Higuita.

"Both of them were ahead of me on GC, and I knew that," the New Zealander said, "so I had to try to drop them, and I tried to drop them fairly early on and paid the price for that. But I had to try."

How it unfolded

The penultimate stage of the 2019 Tour of California would be the decider, culminating in the summit finish and HC climb of Mt. Baldy – a 7.6km climb averaging a steep 8.8%. The preceding first-category climbs of Glendora Bridge Road 1, coming after 27.5km, and Glendora Mountain Road 2, at 99.5km, meant that it would be a brutal day in the saddle for the race's remaining 121 riders.

Even with the mass of climbing waiting up the road, there was a keen fight for the breakaway, with a fast start seeing a break of eight eventually emerge as the main escape group of the day. Owain Doull (Team Ineos), Hugo Houle (Astana), Jumbo-Visma's Lennard Hofstede, Michael Storer (Team Sunweb), Paweł Bernas (CCC Team), Herman Pernsteiner of Bahrain-Merida, Israel Cycling Academy's Matteo Badilatti and under-23 world time trial champion Mikkel Bjerg (Hagens Berman Axeon) were the lucky 10 out front.

Rally UHC climber Brandon McNulty abandoned early on, while Badilatti's teammate Sonder Holst Enger tried and failed to make it across to the break. Over the top of the first climb of the day, it was Houle who lead the way, ahead of Pernsteiner and Storer.

Pernsteiner and Badilatti wouldn't last out front much longer after the summit, though, as the pair were distanced on the descent and dropped back to the peloton. For the eight men remaining, their advantage maxed out at the three-minute mark. The group had no realistic chance of staying away to the finish, as teams with GC ambitions would be looking to grab the bonus seconds on Baldy.

Shortly after the second sprint of the day, 84km into the day, Dimension Data tried a move to launch Ben King up the road. Former KOM holder Alex Hoehn (USA National Team) latched onto the move, as did João Almeida (Hagens Berman Axeon). They remained stranded between the break and peloton as Trek-Segafredo stretched the peloton on the Glendora climb in a bid to set up Richie Porte.

With 16km to go, only Hofstede, Houle, Fabbro and Bernas remained, with a lead of a minute over the Trek-paced peloton.

Schachmann bridged to the leaders with 14km to go and quickly became the leader on the road. The German's pace-setting was soon too much for two of the early breakaway riders, with only Fabbro and Hofstede able to match the Bora rider as the gap to the main field grew to 40 seconds. Inevitably Schachmann was on his own when the road kicked up with 7.5km to go, as van Garderen continued to utilise his teammates – most notably Lachlan Morton.

"I attacked because the speed went down in the bunch and I thought I ought to try it," Schachmann told Cyclingnews. "I got a pretty good gap, and at the beginning of the climb I felt good, but at a certain moment my legs were just blocked. I don't know what happened. Maybe I'm just tired from the first part of the season. I don't think I'm in the best shape anymore because that wouldn't have normally happened.

"I think on a good day, it could have worked out pretty well," he continued, "but today was not the best climbing day. But yeah, until that moment, I was quite good."

The race situation changed dramatically soon after Schachmann's effort, with van Garderen losing his grip and his young teammate Higuita taking the battle to Pogacar. In the end, it was the UAE Team Emirates rider who came out on top, but Higuita's effort was impressive nonetheless.

While EF Education First could celebrate Higuita's ride, the Colombian's team leader, van Garderen, was left wondering what might have been, with Pogacar now very much in the driving seat with just one stage remaining.

"I was suffering," van Garderen admitted to reporters at the finish. "We had to go really hard and it put me in the red. I was suffering at the base of the climb, and I was thinking once we caught Schachmann back that it might ease up a bit. But we had to go really hard and it put me over the limit.

"But no excuses. I'm not going to blame it on the wrist," he continued, referring to his injury from his crash on stage 4. "I think it was a good week, but I lacked a little bit on the final climb. I still have a ways to go and a lot of training left in the season. It's not a complete disaster, but it's a bit of a disappointment."

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