A stellar performance and sheer willpower on the finishing climb to Mt. Baldy means that Peter Sagan is just 2 seconds from the overall win before the final sprinter's stage Sunday. Tinkoff-Saxo’s team leader fought fiercely to keep his yellow jersey and finished 6th behind stage winner Julian Alaphilippe.
 
Upon crossing the line atop Mt. Baldy after a full day of climbing followed by a finishing flat-out effort, Peter Sagan dismounted his bike and sought the ground to catch his breath before elaborating on his effort.   
 
"It was a very hard stage with a tough final climb. I wanted to be in the front in order to secure my position in the GC as much as I could, in view of Sunday's fast stage. I did my best and everything will now be decided in the sprints. We will aim at the overall victory and we will give our best to achieve it”, comments Peter Sagan.

Stage 7 took the riders just 129km from Ontario to Mt. Baldy but had three severe categorized climbs along the way to the finish line in nearly 2000 meter above sea level. Team Sky set a hard tempo on the start of the final climb and it wasn’t until the 5km mark that Sagan had to let go of the later stage winner Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quickstep).
 
However, Sagan kept his pace high to the line to finish 6th on the queen stage limiting his time loss to only 47 seconds. Tinkoff-Saxo’s sports director Tristan Hoffman didn’t hide the fact that he was impressed with the effort made.
 
"I think Peter had a fantastic race today and he's only two seconds from the overall lead. That was a serious climb and he managed to stay with the leaders. He showed yesterday he was in great form and I knew he was good. He has also shown in the past that he can climb but Mt. Baldy was an HC climb and this shows he has made a big step ahead as rider. The focus now is on the last stage and the entire squad will do its outmost to help Peter in winning the Tour of California”, underlines Tristan Hoffman.
 
With just two seconds separating Alaphilippe from Sagan, Sunday will prove crucial. An intermediate sprint gives bonuses of, respectively, 3'', 2'' and 1'', while the finishing sprint gives 10'', 6'' and 4''. As a result, Tinkoff-Saxo’s one and only goal tomorrow is for Peter Sagan to win the Tour of California, where the sprints of stage 8 will decide both stage and race.