Two seconds were all that separated first and second place in the overall, making the final stage at the Amgen Tour of California a fight for time bonus, and it all resulted in insane speeds for the entire 105.8 kilometers.

The intermediate sprint was contested like a finish line with Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) snagging second place and one second closer to overall leader Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step).

With 45 kilometers to go the focus now turned to the finale: after eight hard days of racing it was all coming down to one last sprint to decide the overall victor; a nail-biting ending to end an already exciting week of racing,

Trek Factory Racing had its sights set on the finale too, hoping to launch Danny van Poppel to a big result, and the pinstripes began to take control with four kilometers to go.

It was a textbook leadout; in the last kilometer Jasper Stuyven turned on the afterburners leading van Poppel to the top place in the final meters, where the young speedster jumped first.

“The team did such a great job, and we were the best leadout train today. I started the sprint really early today because the last sprints I started too late. I think I went at 300 meters to go, but I am not sure because there were no signs. In the last 100 meters, they came over me. I am disappointed because it was a nice chance to do a top three…next time better," van Poppel said.

In the final 100 meters Van Poppel was swarmed when he no longer could maintain his early launch; he sat up knowing it was over and faded to 15th place.

Over the line, Mark Cavendish easily stamped his fourth stage win, while Peter Sagan sprinted to third place decided by a photo finish. It was enough to notch the necessary time bonus seconds and win the overall title. 

Jasper Stuyven summed up the final sprint, and the eight days of racing:

“I think it was a really good leadout, and unfortunately Danny didn’t have the legs to finish it off, but we tried very hard and it was good to see that we have faith in Danny. You also hope that if you do that he will get the result or a podium. It was a nice team effort.

“For the week we were just average, nothing really bad, nothing really special.  For myself I am pretty happy for the feeling, to get that back after the Classics.  For the team, we were hoping for a win, or a nice podium this week. We were close a few times, and also in GC we were not far off, but we missed a little bit of luck that we didn’t have this week.”

Haimar Zubeldia clinched sixth place in the overall and Riccardo Zoidl eighth, solid results after a tough Amgen Tour of California.