After a number of near-misses Peter Sagan (Cannondale) finally took his first stage win in this year's Tour of California when he finished  off splendid teamwork by his Cannondale team in downtown Pasadena. Dropping the hammer on the big climbs at the midpoint of the stage, his squad got rid of the likes of Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Matthew Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE) and their Slovakian captain finished it all off by beating Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Danny Van Poppel (Trek) in the sprint.

 

With 10 stage victories, Peter Sagan entered this year's Tour of California as the holder of the record of stage wins but until today the American race had been a frustrating experience for the Slovakian. Having been denied the win by Taylor Phinney in stage 4 which was tailor-made for him, he set out on today's hilly stage to Pasadena in a quest to finally add to his tally.

 

Today it all came together for Sagan and his Cannondale team who used their well-known tactic that was put into practice when he won a stage of last year's Tour de France. With two big climbs at the midpoint of the stage and a downhill and flat run to the finish in Pasadena, the team made the plan to get rid of the faster finishers before the final sprint.

 

As he did two days ago, climber George Bennett set a brutal pace on the final climb and it didn't take long before the cameras showed the images of a struggling Mark Cavendish. Matthew Goss who had made the selection two days earlier, and Moreno Hofland (Belkin) also fell off the pace and a fantastic effort by to hold off the combined efforts of Belkin and Omega Pharma-Quick Step.

 

However, Sagan still faced some formidable opposition as Thor Hushovd, Danny Van Poppel and John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) had made the selection and with his teammates being completely worn out, he was left to fend for himself in the finale. Michael Schär and Taylor Phinney led Hushovd out and Sagan found himself behind the Norwegian and Van Poppel.

 

When he launched his sprint, however, the outcome was never in doubt and he easily passed all his rivals to take a very comfortable victory. Hushovd held onto second and Van Poppel third while Giant-Shimano never managed to position Degenkolb, with the German rolling across the line in fifth.

 

For race leader Bradley Wiggins, it was an easy day in the saddle and he comfortable rolled across the line to defend his 30-second lead over Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp). However, the race is not decided yet as he can expect to come under attack in tomorrow's final stage in Thousand Oaks

 

The short 122.km consists of three big laps of a circuit that contains a difficult climb before the race comes to a conclusion with three laps of a short, flat 7.4km circuit. The most likely outcome is a sprint finish for the hard sprinters but there is little doubt that some of the GC riders will try to move up a few spots on the final day.

 

A hilly course

After yesterday's big mountain stage, it was back into the hills on the penultimate day of the race when the riders tackled the 142.8km seventh stage from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. The first 62km were virtually all uphill and then a short descent led to the bottom of another 10km climb. After a rolling section at the top, a long descent led to the city of Pasadena where the stage ended with three lap of a flat 5km circuit.

 

On such a lumpy course, a breakaway usually has a chance and so the race was off to a very fast start after the riders had taken off in sunny and hot conditions. The first rider to get a significant gap was Gregory Brenes (Jamis) who was brought back after 14km of racing.

 

Many attacks

The peloton had already started to splinter due to the hard pace in the difficult terrain and the attacks continued. Taylor Phinney (BMC), Scott Zwizanski (Optum), Eloy Teruel (Jamis) were the next to get clear and they were joined by Matteo Trentin (OPQS) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Bissell) to form a dangerous move.

 

Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE) also made the junction but after 24km of racing, it was back together. Martin Velits (OPQS) went down in a crash but the Slovakian managed to rejoin the bunch.

 

The break takes off

Finally, the elastic snapped when Greg Van Avermaet (BMC), Ben King (Garmin), Lars Boom (Belkin); Isaac Bolivar (UHC), Luis Davila (Jelly Belly) and Teruel took off and as the peloton slowed down, they opened up a 1-minute gap. King led Davila and Teruel across the line at the first intermediate sprint while behind Sky and Cannondale made sure that the gap didn't get too big.

 

The gap went up to more than 2 minutes while Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (OPQS) decided to leave the race. The gap continued to grow until it reached a maximum of 2.40 with 75km to go.

 

Orica and Cannondale set the pace

Sky had now stopped their work and instead Orica-GreenEDGE had joined Cannondale. Jens Mouris and Cameron Wurf set a steady pace all the way up the first climb to keep the gap stable while Davila beat Bolivar, Boom and King in the battle for the KOM points.

 

On the descent, Guillaume Boivin joined the two chasers and they started to bring the gap down. With 60km to go, it was down to 2.05 as the road again started to point upwards.

 

Bennett drops the hammer

That's when Cannondale moved their entire team to the front, with Boivin and Ted King setting the early pace before Bennett took over. In front group, King decided to attack and only Bolivar could respond to his acceleration. Van Avermaet and Haga also made the junction but Boom, Teruel and Davila all fell off.

 

As they approached the top, Bennett was really driving it and with 58km to go, Cavendish was one of several riders to fall off. At the top of the climb, he had brought the gap down to 1.35 as Bolivar sprinted ahead of Van Avermaet to take maximum points.

 

Boom rejoins the front group

Haga tried to attack on the descent but his companions were all quick to respond. While Davila and Teruel were caught by the peloton, Boom did an impressive job to rejoin the front group and the five riders worked excellently together.

 

On the long, fast descent, however, Cannondale really ramped up the speed, with Bennett, Kristijan Koren, Maciej Bodnar and Fabio Sabatini setting a brutal pace. The gap gradually came down. With 38km to gom they had it down to 45 seconds and 10km further up the road, it was only 25 seconds.

 

The break splits up

As they passed the 20km to go sign, the gap was 15 seconds and the escapees now stopped working together when Bolivar launched an attack. Only King and Van Avermaet responded while Bolivar and Boom both sat up.

 

Van Avermaet countered the move and this was costly for Bolivar who fell off the pace. As they entered the finishing straight for the first time, King tried to get clear on his own but he failed to get rid of Van Avermaet.

 

Sky set the pace

Suddenly, Cannondale decided to take a small breather which allowed the gap to go back p to 25 seconds before Josh Edmondson upped the pace for Sky. At the next passage of the line, the gap was down to 10 seconds and Cannondale were again contributing to the pace-setting.

 

On the penultimate lap, Jose Mendes (NetApp) bridged across to the leaders while an Orica rider did an unsuccessful attempt to do the dame. Instead, it was Teruel who made an impressive attack to pass the front group while Mendes again fell back to the peloton that was again led by Cannondale.

 

Big mistake by Teruel

Teruel got rid of both Van Avermaet and King and crossed the line with his arms in the air, believing that he had taken the win. Soon he realized his mistake and sat up while Cannondale brought it all back together.

 

Chris Jones (UHC) took over the pace-setting for a little while before the Trek and Giant trains strated to battle for the front positions. Janier Acevedo (Garmin) launched a brave attack 1.9km from the line but as he was a GC threat, Sky quickly shot it down.

 

BMC take control

BMC now moved to the front with Schär, Phinney and Hushovd stringing out the peloton. The Trek riders were perfectly positioned behind Hushovd while Sagan managed to get onto Van Poppel's  wheel. The Giant riders were too far back and in the many turns, it was impossible to move up.

 

Passing the flamme rouge, Phinney took over and he led Hushovd all the way to the final turn from which the Norwegian dropped the hammer. Sagan was quick to react though and easily passed his BMC rival to take his first win in this year's Tour of California.