Tour of California: Bol wins final stage in Pasadena ahead of Sagan

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Cees Bol (Team Sunweb) sprinted to victory on the final stage of the Tour of California in Pasadena on Saturday. The Dutchman beat three-time road race world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) to the line after an unexpectedly active day that saw big names going on the attack mid-stage.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) finished safely in the peloton to claim his first WorldTour stage-race victory ahead of Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) and Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

"This race was my main goal this year," said the Slovenian in the post-race press conference. "I knew that I was well prepared, but I surprised myself a bit that I took the overall win. I'm really happy and looking forward to returning next year."

Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), who's been active all week, was nevertheless a surprise face in the break of the day, with the ninth-placed man riding into the virtual lead at one point. With the German up front, a number of GC men, including Higuita, went on the offensive on the second, unclassified, climb of the day, creating a fractured situation midway through the stage.

It all came back together in the final 10 kilometres, however, setting up the expected sprint finish. A number of teams took to the front in the closing kilometres, but it was Dimension Data in control under the flamme rouge.

Sagan, a few places back behind Deceuninck-QuickStep's Maximiliano Richeze, looked in prime position to take a second stage victory, but it was Bol who prevailed. The Dutchman didn't even surf a lead-out train, instead hitting the wind before anyone else to open the sprint.

Nobody had an answer to the 23-year-old's finish – not even Sagan, who would have to be content with staying on 17 Tour of California stage wins, at least until next year. Philipsen finished fast to nab third, while, further back, one of his teammates hit the deck in a nasty mid-peloton crash.

How it unfolded

The final stage of the 2019 Tour of California offered a 126km ride from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. The stage wasn’t a straightforward sprint stage, including one last classified climb over the Angeles Forest Hwy, 64km from the line, before another tough – albeit unclassified – test ahead of the descent into Pasadena for three finish circuits around the Rose Bowl Stadium.

Pogačar started the day in the leader’s jersey after his win atop Mt. Baldy on Friday. He led the race into the last stage with a 16-second gap over Higuita, and 20 seconds ahead of Asgreen.

The early breakaway included Schachmann, Diego Rosa (Team Ineos), Lawson Craddock (EF Education First), Lennard Hofstede and Neilson Powless (Team Jumbo-Visma), Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates), Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo), Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Davide Ballerini (Astana Pro Team), Michael Storer (Team Sunweb) and former KOM leader Alex Hoehn (USA National Team).

Oliveira’s presence in the move took some pressure off of UAE Team Emirates in the main field behind, but the young Portuguese rider would lose contact early on Angeles Forest Hwy, along with Rosa.

Back in the field, Jumbo-Visma’s George Bennett made a move on the climb, but was marked by Higuita and Lachlan Morton (both EF Education First). The high pace saw some riders splintering off the back and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) called it a race and climbed into the team car.

Schachmann, riding into virtual yellow, took maximum points at the first intermediate sprint and the climb, while down the road the action was kicking off as GC riders fought between themselves.

Hofstede and Ballerini joined Schachmann out front on the descent into Pasadena, and the trio soon had Cavagna and his teammate Asgreen, who had attacked the chase group, for company.

Their advantage over Pogačar’s chase group was slim though, and it looked all set for a sprint finish when the riders reached the Rose Bowl Stadium for the closing circuits.

Asgreen, Hofstede and Ballerini lasted out front until the 10km mark, and the teams invested in a sprint soon brought Ballerini and Asgreen back into the fold, setting up a grand sprint finale in Pasadena.

The competing trains of Deceuninck-QuickStep (for Fabio Jakobsen), CCC Team (for Szymon Sajnok) and Team Ineos (for Kristoffer Halvorsen) took to the front with 5km to go. Meanwhile, Sagan freelanced further back.

Dimension Data led the way in the final kilometre, while Sagan had made his way onto the Deceuninck-QuickStep lead-out just behind. It was Bol, though, who had the last laugh, launching on his own and holding it to the line to beat out Sagan and a fast-finishing Philipsen to the final finish line of the race.

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