Daniel Oss rode into the lead in the king of the mountains classification Saturday at the Amgen Tour of California while teammate Ben Hermans was the BMC Racing Team's best finisher on the race's major mountain stage.
Oss had to spend his third day in the breakaway to don the polka dot jersey by day's end, having overtaken previous king of the mountains leader Toms Skujins (Hincapie Racing Team). He only needs to finish Sunday's final stage to claim the special classification prize.
"I was only one point behind, so I had to try to get the jersey," Oss said. "Now I am a bit tired."
Hermans was 13th to the top of Mt. Baldy, 1:53 behind stage winner and new race leader Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step). Alaphilippe leads previous race leader Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) by two seconds. Hermans is 2:17 back and in 12th in the overall standings. Joey Rosskopf, who had been sitting fourth overall heading into the 128.7-kilometer stage, finished 29th, 5:33 behind, and is one of five BMC Racing Team riders in the top 30.
Oss, who finished 10th in Friday's individual time trial, said he expects plenty of action on Sunday's final stage, a 105.2-km circuit race around the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena.
"We may try to win the stage with Jempy Drucker again," he said. "But there will be a big fight for the lead because Sagan is at two seconds and I am sure Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step) will want to win his fourth stage."
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