With San Marcos Pass featuring in the finale, many had tipped yesterday's fifth stage of the Tour of California as a good opportunity for John Degenkolb. Having just come back from a break, however, the ascent was too tough for the big German and instead his young teammate Lawson Craddock again shone.

Lawson Craddock and Thomas Damuseau have finished sixth and seventh respectively on the fifth stage of the Amgen Tour of California for Team Giant-Shimano in a select group which formed after the day’s main climb with 30km to race.

The pace over this climb was too high for John Degenkolb to stick with and together with most of the sprinters in the race he was distanced and rolled in over three minutes down while Craddock and Damuseay got into the mix for the sprint for second place behind a solo stage winner, Taylor Phinney (BMC) who attacked on the descent of the final climb before time trialling to the finish in Santa Barbara.

The day saw a strong breakaway of six riders pull clear but after giving the escapees too much room yesterday the bunch was in no mood to let them get too far ahead this time round. Their advantage was whittled down on the approach to the final climb of the day and on the higher slopes of the ascent the last riders was caught by a charging bunch.

Riders were soon being spat out the back and over the top of the climb a much reduced bunch of around 40 riders led, with Craddock, Damuseau and also Daan Olivier present for Team Giant-Shimano. On the fast, wide descent of the climb Phinney pulled clear and by the bottom had 30-seconds over the chasing group. He powered through the final 20km of the stage to take a fine solo victory, while behind Craddock was the fifth rider over the line from the chasers.

After the stage, best young rider in the race, Lawson Craddock said: “For the most part, today was a good day. It is really unfortunate that John couldn’t make it over the climb but we had to make do without him at the front.

“At the end Thomas and I tried to sprint but we got boxed in. Now my focus is on recovery and getting into the best shape possible for tomorrow and the climb up Mountain High.

“I think that the main difference between this year and last year is the benefit of having a tough spring of European races and learning from the experience of the other guys on the team. I have learned a lot about how to conserve energy and then using that energy at the right time to make it count. It also doesn’t hurt having one of the strongest teams in the race riding for you!”

“The final climb proved just a bit too heavy for John today but the teamwork was good all day and we tried to keep him up there as long as possible,” explained Team Giant-Shimano coach Aike Visbeek after the stage.

“Roy Curvers did a good job pulling before the climb and over the top we had three guys in the front group and then behind Chad Haga and Koen De Kort stayed with John in case the race came back together. I’m impressed with how well the young guys are performing here, but it is more of a confirmation than a surprise – we knew that they have it in them and it is good to see them dealing with the pressure.

“The team spirit out here is strong and we will look ahead to another strong ride tomorrow on what looks like a very tough stage.”