Liquigas-Cannondale young gun Peter Sagan timed his sprint perfectly to take Amgen Tour of California's stage five in the premium wine country of Paso Robles today, beating Leigh Howard (HTC-Highroad) and Ben Swift (Team Sky) into second and third, making the average age of today's podium just 21.7 years old. RadioShack's Chris Horner held onto his overall lead, and will now be focused on tomorrow's time trial in Solvang.
It didn't take long for the attacks to fly in stage five, but it wasn't until the peloton took in the first King of the Mountains over Laurel's Grade that triple world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo), Chris Froome (Team Sky), and Chris Baldwin (Bissell) could get some daylight between themselves and the peloton. By the time the leaders reached the 30 kilometer mark, the numbers in the break had swelled to eleven, with the quartet gaining KOM leader Patrick McCarty (Spidertech pb C10), Brad White (UnitedHealthcare), Jeff Louder (BMC Racing), Jesse Anthony (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth), Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), Martin Velits (HTC-Highroad) and Stefan Denifl (Leopard Trek).
The escape continued to increase their lead over the next 30 kilometers, with McCarty taking the next KOM, but once they hit the 3 minute mark, the RadioShack-powered peloton wouldn't relinquish any more time. The third KOM was next on stage, with Anthony taking first, followed by McCarty and Baldwin.
With around 120 kilometers left to race a group of close to 10 riders hit the pavement. Unfortunately, the incident provided Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Alex Dowsett (Sky) and Gustav Larsson (Saxo Bank) with an immediate exit to the race. RadioShack continued to drive the pace, eating away a minute over the next 60 kilometers. It was the final KOM that was next place to see some action from the break, with McCarty, followed by Freire and Denifl powering away from their companions. McCarty pulled his own plug after getting maximum points, while the Leopard Trek and Rabobank riders carried on with their effort.
Behind the RadioShack squad who whipped up the pace with help from the Liquigas-Cannondale team, but the duo ahead managed to hold onto their 2 minute lead while the peloton behind began to lose riders. It was with 15 kilometers remaining that the defining moment of the escape happened, with Denifl suffering a puncture, leaving Freire a long lonely road to the finish in Paso Robles.
Freire continued to push hard, losing 30 seconds over the next 5 kilometers, with the sprinter's teams behind pushing the pace. The next 5 kilometers were the same story, with the 35 year old continuing to lose ground. Not even a crash in the peloton could preserve his lead, as a motivated HTC-Highroad team pulled him back into the fold hoping to win close to home. George Hincapie (BMC Racing) was first to counter the Rabobank rider's catch, but it was Bissell's Jeremy Vennell who looked like he could spoil the sprinter's day.
Vennell was still ahead with a kilometer remaining, but the chase behind proved too much for the Bissell rider in the end, and it was a Team Sky-led peloton in the final meters that was to launch the sprint. Howard jumped first with Ben Swift (Team Sky) next to follow. Sagan was perfectly positioned on the Briton's wheel, and powered his way past them all for his second Amgen Tour of California victory, his first in this year's edition.