The queen stage of the Tour of California once again finished atop Mt. Baldy; but unlike last time with brutally hot temperatures the racers faced nice conditions on the stage turning into actual cold temperatures as the race climbed to above 4,000 feet. Team Cannondale-Garmin put Joe Dombrowski into position and he rode a strong race to finish just off the podium in fourth and slotting into fourth on the overall.

“It was ridden differently than last time,” said Dombrowski. “It wasn’t quite as hard due to the cooler conditions but it was also much faster. On the approach to Baldy it was a really hard tempo. We were there and Ben did a great job of keeping me in position.”

Ben King said the make-up of the general classification made the race hard from the start.

“Kilometer zero it was full on,” he said. “60km from feed zone teams were already burning riders to make it fast. This stage is always full on but it was definitely faster today.”

As the race came off Glendora Mountain Road and approached Mt. Baldy, King and Dombrowski were well positioned near the front of the lead group.

“I gave my self a finish line at 8km to go,” said King. “Right there it goes downhill and it turns to go up to Baldy, and I wanted to get Joe into good position for that.”

“Ben did a great job for me today,” said Dombrowski. “I was there in third wheel and was able to stay with them on the start of the final climb. But at 3km to go I fell off a bit and rode my own pace to not lose too much time.”

Director Sportif Johnny Weltz said he could not have asked for more from the entire team. “Ben was great for Joe today and Joe was great too on a steep and tough finish. We wanted to have it hard and selective for the end and we got that.”

“We came here fighting for the GC and I’m happy with the work of the entire team this week!”