The stage six time trial at the Amgen Tour of California initiated the first serious cataloguing of the general classification. When the last rider, overall leader Toms Skujins (Hincapie Racing), crossed the finish line, the leaderboard finally revealed its fist big shuffle amongst GC contenders and exposed a new leader, setting up what is sure to be an exhilarating queen stage tomorrow.

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) blasted the fast, flat 10.6-kilometer course in a time of 12:31 to take a convincing win and a commanding lead in the overall. He will wear the leader’s jersey into the penultimate stage tomorrow with 28 seconds lead over Skujins, who managed to hold onto second place.

But more importantly the gaps from third place onward are substantial as Sagan padded his lead to the other GC rivals, setting up an exciting finish climb to Mt. Baldy.

Markel Irizar, always strong against the clock, was the fastest from Trek, finishing in 12th place, 31 seconds behind Sagan.

Irizar recounted his effort in the time trial: “The feelings were not bad today, but the result was not as good as I expected. Honestly, with the feelings I had I was hoping for better. But okay the times don’t lie and it says that there were stronger guys than me.  he legs were actually pretty okay.

“It was not so technical, but it was a little windy and that made it harder to handle the bike. I didn’t have any problems, I can’t complain, I turned the corners as expected, and reallly it went as I expected. There are no excuses – they were stronger and that’s it.”

Zubeldia came into today’s race in 13th position overall and moved up to 10th after a very strong ride in a discipline that is not his forte. He now sits 1’04” behind Sagan, but only 19 seconds off third place and a potential podium after finishing in 13:06.

“I felt really good today, in the warm up I could tell already, and straight away I had good legs. I was thinking that today is my day and I need to try to make the best of it. After 1k I was in a good tempo and also saw the watts and heart rate were going well. The last 3 kilometers were the hardest of the TT and I pushed hard and I caught the guy who started in front of me in the last kilometer, and this is also good for the motivation," he said.

“I did Mt. Baldy in 2011 and I know almost all the parcours. I think if I have the same legs as today we can do something tomorrow. Also Riccardo and Matthew are close. The tactic is simple: follow the best guys and if you have the legs take it in the finale.”

Riccardo Zoidl finished three seconds off Zubeldia’s time with Matthew Busche also clocking a strong time trial in 13:21.  Busche is 18th (+1’19”) and Zoidl 19th (+1’20”) in the overall, both well within striking distance of the final podium, setting up tomorrow’s Mt. Baldy as a thrilling - and decisive - stage.