Lead changes as Amgen Tour of California heads into final stage

A determined ride by UAE Team Emirates’ 20-year-old Tadej Pogacar’s (SLO) today could make him the youngest ever Amgen Tour of California champion when the race concludes in Pasadena tomorrow. First-timers to this race, Pogacar and 21-year-old Sergio Higuita battled to the steep summit finish atop Southern California’s Mt. Baldy, with the EF Education First Pro Cycling Columbian rider slipping into second place for the stage after a wide turn to the finish gave the younger rider clearance to the line.

“It was for sure a team effort. Once again, my team did a really good job protecting me all day and leading me out to the final climb and supporting me all the ways that they could. I just did my best the last 5 or 6km, and I was climbing really well today,” said Pogacar.

Podium: Stage 6 presented by Visit California

1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO), UAE Team Emirates (UAE), 3h48'49"
2. Sergio Andres Higuita Garcia (COL), EF Education First Pro Cycling (USA), +00”
3. George Bennett (NZL), Team Jumbo-Visma (TJV), +:05”

Jersey Winners after Stage 6:

Amgen Race Leader Jersey – Tadej Pogacar (SLO), UAE Team Emirates (UAE)
Breakaway from Cancer® Most Courageous Rider Jersey – Mikkel Bjerg (DEN), Hagens Berman Axeon Cycling Team (USA)
Lexus King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey – Davide Ballerini (ITA), Astana Pro Team (KAZ)
Visit California Sprint Jersey – Kasper Asgreen (DEN), Deceuninck – Quick-Step (BEL)
TAG Heuer Best Young Rider Jersey – Tadej Pogacar (SLO), UAE Team Emirates (UAE)

The penultimate race day began with just 36 seconds separating the top-10 riders on the overall race leader board, which shattered on the steep ascent up Mt. Baldy. Pogacar, who began the day in fourth place 16 seconds off the race lead and in the TAG Heuer Best Young Rider jersey he has worn for four consecutive days, now holds the overall race lead +:16” ahead of Higuita. Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s Kasper Asgreen (DEN) and Team Jumbo-Visma’s 2017 race champion George Bennett (NZL) kept the lead group within their sights up the final mountainous stretch to keep their overall contention hopes alive, ending the day in third (+:20”) and fourth (+:29”) overall respectively. Tejay van Garderen (Tacoma, Wash.) of EF Education First Pro Cycling, who has held the overall race lead since day two, lost time on the final uphill section, falling to ninth place in the overall (+1:22”).

Over on the women's side, the Boels Dolmans Cycling Team staked their claim of Mt. Baldy at the midpoint of the Amgen Tour of California Women's Race empowered with SRAM, with the powerhouse duo of Katie Hall (Oakland, Calif.) and Anna van der Breggen (NED) coming over the summit finish together. Hall, the reigning race champion, picked up her first stage win this year, with van der Breggen putting more time into her overall race lead established yesterday when she rode solo to a Stage 1 win. The World Champion will ride into tomorrow’s race conclusion in Pasadena +29” ahead of Hall, who moved up to second place in the overall, and +1:06” up on CCC-Liv’s Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (RSA) in third.

Hall’s epic climb catapulted her to the top of the QOM competition, which she has won twice before in this race, with Astana’s Blanca Liliana Moreno Canchon (COL), and van der Breggen still leading the Sprint competition by a large margin.

The Boels Dolmans duo took the lead on the steepest part of the climb up the mountain and was followed by Moolman-Pasio (RSA) in third for the stage. Before Boels Dolmans attacked, WNT ROTOR Pro Cycling Team’s Kathrin Hammes (GER) and CANYON//SRAM Racing’s Omer Shapira (ISR), who earned the Breakaway from Heart DiseaseTM Most Courageous Rider Jersey for time spent in a solo lead up the steep gradient, were out front as the last standing from the three-woman breakaway, with Team Sunweb’s Coryn Rivera (Tustin, Calif.) having fallen back to the chase group. Cogeas Mettler Look Pro Cycling Team’s Olga Zabelinskaya (UZB) then made an appearance in the lead group along with Moolman-Pasio.

Before the climbing began, speeds were high (nearly 30mph), as the peloton pushed off for Stage 2 presented by Visit California from Ontario and Valcar Cylance Cycling kept up the pace trying to thin out the lead group. Their rider Elisa Balsamo (ITA) placed second for yesterday’s stage and went into today leading the TAG Heuer Best Young Rider competition, however, Team Sunweb’s Juliette Labous (FRA) overtook that lead today.