Johan Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) proved that he is back at his highest level after his horrific crash more than a year ago when he took a beautiful solo victory in today's big mountain stage of the Tour of California. The Colombian emerged as the strongest from a very strong 6-rider breakaway while Bradley Wiggins (Sky) defended himself against all attacks from the Garmin-Sharp team and heads into the weekend stages with his overall lead intact.

 

In February 2013 Johan Esteban Chaves' young career was under threat when he was involved in a horrific crash at the Trofeo Laigueglia. The 2011 Tour de l'Avenir winner was absent from competition for almost a year but Orica-GreenEDGE were brave enough to offer the talented Colombian a contract.

 

Today their decision were justified when he won the final big mountain stage of the Tour of California. Having joined a very strong 6-rider breakaway early in the stage, he emerged as the strongest on the final climb to the finish at the top of Mountain High.

 

When they hit the final steep section 4km from the finish, Chaves only had Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) and David de la Cruz (NetApp-Endura) for company and he launched two strong attacks that quickly allowed himself to take off on his own. De la Cruz briefly seemed to regain contact but as soon as the road again got steeper, he proved that he was in a class of his own.

 

Behind the three escapees, the battle for the overall win was on as Garmin-Sharp had tried to put Sky under pressure to set up an attack from Rohan Dennis. First step was Danielson and on the final climb both Ben King and Janier Acevedo tried to shake the British team.

 

However, fabulous work from youngsters Joe Dombrowski and Josh Edmondson brought all the Garmin riders except Danielson back and with 2km to go, Dombrowski had whittled the group of favourites down to just himself, his captain Bradley Wiggins, Dennis, Peter Stetina (BMC), Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEDGE) and a struggling George Bennett (Cannondale). When Dobrowski finally swung off, everybody was waiting for Dennis' attack but as Wiggins went straight to the front and rode tempo, he put all of his rivals on the limit.

 

Hence, Dennis never made his move and instead it was Chaves' teammate Yates who attacked inside the final 500m. Wiggins proved that he is a deserved leader of the race when he responded to the attack while Dennis and Stetina both drifted back.

 

Wiggins crossed the line on Yates' wheel to take fifth on the stage and so slightly extend his overall lead. Hence, he heads into the weekend stage with a comfortable 30-second lead over Dennis and as none of them are expected to produce any differences, only disaster will prevent him from winning the American race.

 

First up is Saturday's penultimate stage which is a very hilly 142.8km journey from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. The riders will go up two major mountains at the midpoint of the stage but as the final 56km are downhill and flat, a breakaway or a strong sprinter is expected to shine in Pasadena.

 

A big mountain stage

After two easier stages, it was back into the mountains for the sixth stage which was expected to shape up the final GC of this year's Tour of California. The first part of the 151.8km stage from Santa Clarita to the top of Mountain High offered some rolling terrain with three small categorized climbs but the real excitement was saved for the final 37.5km climb that had an average gradient of 3%. Even though the first part was not very tough, a very steep end was expected to separate the best from the rest.

 

All riders that finished yesterday's stage took the start under beautiful sunny and - again - very hot conditions. With road climbing slightly already from the start, it was the perfect scene for some early aggression and the start of the stage was very fast as several riders wanted to be part of the early move.

 

Several strong groups

While Ian Boswell (Sky), Jack Bobridge (Belkin), Tom Danielson (Garmin), Luis Daviala (Jelly Belly), Chris Jones (UnitedHealthCare), Will Routley (Optum) and Jose Mendes (NetApp-Endura) took off in the first dangerous attack, the peloton already started to splinter on the slopes. The move was quickly brought back and instead Markel Irizar (Trek), Nick van der Lijke (Belkin), Kiel Reijnen (UHC), Ryan Anderson (Optum) and Gregory Daniel (Bissell) took off in what seemed to be the early break.

 

The peloton had now broken into three groups but the move wasn't the right either. Instead, Danielson, Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE), Bobridge, David de la Cruz (NetApp), Javier Megias (Novo Nordisk) and Jones took off and this time the peloton seemed to be content with the composition. They quickly built up a three-minute gap and started to head up the first small climb.

 

Sky take control

At the top the gap had reached 3.45 and Jones beat Danielson, Chaves , de la Cruz and Megias in the battle for the points. Sky had now taken control in the peloton and kept the gap stable for race leader Wiggins.

 

Jones was again best on the second climb when he beat Bobridge, Chaves and Megias while at this point Kirk Carlsen (Jelly Belly) and Phil Gaimon (Garmin) abandoned the race. Mark Cavendish and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (OPQS) both crashed but both managed to rejoin the peloton.

 

Boonen abandons

The gap reached 4.15 when Danielson beat Megias and de la Cruz in the first intermediate sprint and the American was again best in the second one, this time holding off Bobdrige and Megias. Nicolai Brochner (Bissell) and Tom Boonen (OPQS) became the next riders to leave the race.

 

The gap had now come down to 3 minutes as Sky had got some assistance from Giant-Shimano. For several kilometres, Koen De Kort (Giant) and the Sky riders Ian Boswell, Luke Rowe and Nathan Earle swapped turns on the front.

 

The break splits up

They stepped off the gas and allowed the gap to go back up to 4 minutes with 46km to go when Jones beat Chaves, de la Cruz and Danielson on the final of the three small warm-up climbs. This was the signal for the Sky riders and De Kort to up the pace, and by the time they hit the final 27km climb, the gap was down to 3.10.

 

The first part of the climb was very easy and barely produced any selection but with 19km to go, it started to get steeper. While people started to get dropped from the peloton, Megias fell off the pace in the front group.

 

Knees and Pate take over

The early workers had now finished their job and so Christian Knees and Danny Pate took over for Sky . With 16km to go, they had brought the gap down to 2.40 and it was now too much for Jones who got dropped from the break.

 

With 14km to go, King made the next move for Garmin but Sky didn't react. Instead, Pate and Knees continued their pace-setting and allowed the America to build a 30-second gap.

 

Schär starts to chase

Danielson tried to animate his break companions and as they upped the pace, Bobridge fell off. The increased pace allowed them to reopen their gap to 3 minutes.

 

This was the signal for BMC to kick into action and they asked Michael Schär to up the pace. With Knees and Pate falling off the pace, Josh Edmondson and Dombrowski were the final two Sky domestiques and they started to work with the Swiss champion.

 

Chaves attacks

With 7km to go, they had brought King back in the fold and Edmondson had now disappeared from the front. Impressively, Bobridge had continued to fight and with 6km to go he rejoined the leader which were now only 2.15 ahead.

 

With 4km to go, Schär fell off the pace, leaving it to Dombrowski to set the pace. Up ahead, the escapees had hit the final steep section and Chaves made an immediate attack.

 

Chaves goes again

Danielson and later also de la Cruz rejoined him but when he kicked again, his companions fell off. De la Cruz was his nearest chaser and briefly seemed to regain contact but when the road again got steeper, Chaves took off for good.

 

With 3.5km to, Garmin sent Acevedo up the road to put Sky under pressure. However, Edmondson had only been hiding further back in the group and soon joined Dombrowski to bring the Colombian back.

 

Stetina attacks

Edmondson closed the final bit up the gap before he finally swung off and then left it to Dombrowski to support his captain. He came under pressure when Stetina attacked 2km from the line but impressively the American shut it down.

 

Wiggins' group was now down to just the race leader himself, Dombrowski, Stetina, Dennis, Bennett and Yates while Laurens Ten Dam (Belkin) was struggling a little further behind. When Dombrowski finally swung off, Stetina went straight to the front to set a brutal pace.

 

Wiggins takes over

Bennett was the only one to fall off but when Stetina stopped his acceleration, he rejoined the group. Wiggins went straight to the front to ride a hard tempo that prevented all attacks.

 

While Chaves soloed across the line to take a solo win ahead of de la Cruz and Danielson, Wiggins kept his speed until Yates attack inside the final 500m. While Stetina, Dennis and Bennett all drifted backwards, Wiggins gritted his teeth and joined his compatriot to roll across the line in fifth and defend his overall lead.