The 6th stage of the Amgen Tour of California saw the riders take on a 10km race against the clock. Originally the time trial course was supposed to be hosted around Big Bear lake but organisers decided to move the stage to Santa Clarita because of the forecast snowfall in Big Bear.

MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung were motivated to unleash their bikes over the short and fast course with Johann van Zyl and Daniel Teklehaimanot particularly keen to test their metal. Van Zyl set a blistering time of 13'04" and as one of the early starters, he slotted into 2nd position at the finish. As the rest of the field rolled in, his 49.1km/h ride was good enough to hold on to 13th position by the end of the stage.

Teklehaimanot also posted a solid time of 13'14" which was good enough for 28th place. All the other MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung riders got around the course in one piece and are ready for tomorrow's queen stage finishing atop Mt. Baldy. The big winner of today though was Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) as he took out the stage win and pulled on the GC leaders’ jersey. Jos van Emden (Lotto-Jumbo) was 2nd against the clock and Julien Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quickstep) 3rd.

"I was really motivated for today and wanted to give it a good crack to see if I could get a top 10. I felt good during the TT and I think I took the corners efficiently as well. As always there is a lot of room for improvement still. I think ill be hitting the gym soon," van Zyl said.