Omega Pharma-Quick Step made a rare miscalculation in yesterday's fourth stage of the Tour of California when the breakaway managed to stay away and deny Mark Cavendish the chance to sprint for the win. In the finale, the team went full gas with all their classics guys but even a speed of 75kph in the tailwind was not enough for the likes of Tom Boonen and Niki Terpstra to bring the break back.
In a stage that many expected to come down to a bunch sprint due to a tailwind, a breakaway of six riders managed to surprise the peloton and decide the 166.1km AMGEN Tour of California Stage 4 on Wednesday.
The breakaway was more than 2 minutes ahead within the final 10 kilometers, and the peloton simply didn't take up the chase in time to reel in the group. OPQS even put four riders on the front in the final kilometers, giving their all for Mark Cavendish in hopes of a sprint.
Will Routley (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) won the stage. Gregory Daniel (Bissell Development Team) was 2nd, and Kevin De Mesmaeker (Team Norvo Nordisk) was 3rd.
Green jersey Cavendish took the field sprint behind for Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team, placing 7th. Routley is now the points leader due to his victory.
"The climb before [with 45km to go] actually I went to the others and said we have to start pulling with two or three extra guys, because in the front they were waiting for the last part to speed up, I could really tell," Boonen told Cyclingnews. "At that point we started riding full speed straight away going 75k an hour trying to get as soon as possible a minute or a minute and a half off their lead, so the other guys would start pulling as well to take their morale away a little bit. But it lasted too long, and with tailwind they were going full speed in the front as well."
OPQS looks next to 173.6km Stage 5, from Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara, on Thursday. The stage features three intermediate sprints early in the stage, but a Cat. 1 climb — San Marcos Pass — will be covered late in the stage.
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