With no wins yet in 2012, Ag2R-La Mondiale breaks through to get two in a day
No one in the western United States knew his name when stage six of the Tour of California got underway, but no one is likely to forget Sylvain Georges (Ag2R-La Mondiale) after his escape to win the day with just a handful of seconds over the bunch kick, which was taken by Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale).
But it was Georges who attacked with six other breakaway mates after two kilometers and was the only rider to survive to the finish, going the final 40 kilometers solo to win the stage to Big Bear Lake.
The French team Ag2R-La Mondiale was becoming increasingly publicized for its lack of wins during the 2012 season – in fact they had totaled zero wins as of yesterday. But the news of Sebastian Hinault’s stage win in the Circuit de Lorraine must have certainly inspired Georges, who took his team’s second win of the season, and second win of the day.
From the 40km mark, Georges held steady to a four-minute gap on the main bunch. The peloton was chasing, but not with the urgency to bring back the tenacious Frenchman. With twenty kilometers to race, Georges still held four minutes over the main bunch, but as they kicked up the pace, he began to tire. He managed to hold on for a while, making the win seem an inevitability, until the final five kilometers. From there, the gap tumbled, but the Frenchman had done enough. He eased over the line before collapsing into the arms of his elated team managers.
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) finished in the main bunch and held onto his overall lead. “Lucky for us the break went fairly early so we could control right away,” Zabriskie said at the finish. “We had Jacob [Rathe] and Nathan [Haas] doing a lot of work early on. When the hills started, we hit it pretty hard, just a preemptive move to see what would happen. Sagan survived the move and his team wanted to start pulling for the sprint. The Ag2R rider did an amazing ride. Hats off to him.
“Our rivals are Tejay [Van Garderen], [Robert] Gesink, [Peter] Velits, and [Chris] Horner, you can’t count him out. Maybe even Levi [Leipheimer], he’s not that far back.”
A breakaway went up the road almost from the drop of the flag, beginning a 187-kilometer day over four categorized climbs. Georges, Yukihiro Doi (Argos-Shimano), David Boily (SpiderTech-C10), Jeremy Vennell (Bissell), Gregory Rast (Radioshack-Nissan), Sebastian Salas and Andrew Bajadali (Team Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) would be the protagonists during the early portion of the day.
Their gap was nearly a minute after just ten kilometers of racing, as Garmin-Barracuda got on the front in support of Zabriskie, but the American team kept things light as the break moved away.
The road went uphill almost right away, heading to the crest of Mount Emma, the first categorized climb of the day. Boily, the first King of the Mountains of the week, took maximum points at the top, and the lead group had four minutes in hand over the peloton at the top. Soon off the descent, the long and tedious journey up to Angeles Crest began.
As the break began their second climb, their gap had reached its plateau at seven and a half minutes. When they finally reached the top, Salas and Bajadali took the first two positions for Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies, with Boily third.
At the back of the main bunch, Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) was one of several to pack it in early, as the German sprinter looks to build form toward his bigger goals in the summer.
Though the next 70 kilometers would only feature two category 4 climbs, the road went up for long stretches at a time, rising a total of 1500 meters.
Salas took maximum points on the third of four climbs, ahead of Boily, and with 65 kilometers to race, the main bunch began to get to the heart of the matter, and the gap was down to just over four minutes. By the time the peloton reached the top of the third climb, they had bitten a bit more into the lead of the seven up front, as the gap dipped to three minutes, 45 seconds.
Up front, George was keen to push his breakaway mates toward the top of the final climb. His accelerations, along with the work of Salas, dropped first Bajadali, then Vennell and Doi. Boily was next to crack, followed by Rast, as the Classics man rode a sensible pace to the top. This left Salas, in the KOM jersey, to work with Georges for the points at the summit.
Approaching the top, the Frenchman did not challenge Salas for the six points available, and the Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies rider gave a thumbs up over the top after likely sewing up the mountains jersey. Salas shut it down, momentarily confusing Georges as to his intentions, but when he saw that he would be on his own, Georges set to work on the final 42 kilometers on his own.
Liquigas-Cannondale led the peloton over the final summit of the day five minutes in arrears, working for Sagan in spite of the mountainous day. As Bajadali and Boily drifted back into the bunch, Rast, Vennell, Salas, and Doi formed a quartet and would not give up on bringing back Georges. But he kept the pressure high, and as the peloton worked methodically up the gently rising road, Georges built on his gap.
The chasing group of four then began to disintegrate, and Doi and Salas were back in the peloton just as Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge) attacked it. It wasn’t long before Wilco Kelderman (Rabobank) sprung from the bunch trying the chase down his compatriot and former team-mate up the road. Liquigas-Cannondale and Garmin-Barracuda shared the pacing in the peloton and tried to keep them in check. With Rast and Vennell fading as well, Weening came around both, and Kelderman soon followed as he caught up. Vennell would find another gear and attach as well, and the three set off in pursuit of Georges.
Rast retreated to the bunch, and with 20km to go, eyes turned to Georges, the peloton, and the gap between. With 15km left, the Frenchman still had three minutes, 45 seconds on the bunch. When he began the big lap around Big Bear Lake, he still held over three minutes, with the chasing trio sitting a minute in front of the peloton.
With 10km to go and facing the prospect of the yellow jersey changing hands, Garmin-Barracuda received reinforcements from BMC Racing and Omega Pharma-Quick Step. The extra fresh legs sent the gap careening downward. At 6km to go, it was just north of two minutes. Weening was doing almost all the work in the chasing trio, and he too began to wear down. Though they were within a minute of Georges, the bunch was fast approaching.
The field had pulled them in with two kilometers to go, and though Georges still had 90 seconds, the finale was uphill, and he was fading fast. Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Nissan) briefly tried his luck, and he drew out Sagan, along with two others.
Under the 1km banner, Georges’ lead was a minute, and the brief lapse in racing after Voigt was brought back was plenty to allow Ag2R-La Mondiale to celebrate their second win of the day.
Sagan won the bunch sprint for second, and Peter Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took a potentially useful time bonus, grabbing third.