Egan Bernal (Team Sky) won the sixth stage of the Tour of California on Friday to seize the overall lead from Tejay Van Garderen with one stage remaining.
Bernal, aided by Sky teammate Tao Geoghegan Hart, mounted a gutsy attack with some five kilometers remaining on the category one Dagget climb and had seized a lead of more than a minute over Van Garderen at the summit.
He held on through the descent and one final short climb to regain the yellow jersey he had taken with his win in the mountainous second stage on Monday but relinquished when Van Garderen won the time trial fourth stage on Wednesday.
Bernal was 1:28 ahead of Adam Yates. Geoghegan Hart was third at 1:30 back. Van Garderen, unable to hang on in the face of the coordinated Sky effort, finished seventh 1:38 adrift.
“I attacked on the last long climb, but after that there was still 10 kilometers to go downhill and flat after,” said Bernal, who is closing in on the most important win of his career. “I was just thinking to push hard and try my best.
“The team did a good job,” he added. “They worked like crazy for me. I’m so proud of the guys. This week has been amazing for me.”
Tour of California 2018 – stage 6 results (Folsom – South Lake Tahoe):
| 1 | Egan Bernal (Team Sky) | 5:30:58 |
| 2 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’28” |
| 3 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) | +01’30” |
| 4 | Brandon McNulty (Rally Cycling) | +01’33” |
| 5 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | +01’38” |
| 6 | Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 7 | Tejay van Garderen (BMC) | ,, |
| 8 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’45” |
| 9 | Edward Ravasi (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’46” |
| 10 | Daniel Martinez (EF Education First-Drapac) | +01’50” |
General classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Egan Bernal (Team Sky) | 22:26:40 |
| 2 | Tejay van Garderen (BMC) | +01’25” |
| 3 | Daniel Martinez (EF Education First-Drapac) | +02’14” |
| 4 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +02’16” |
| 5 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky) | +02’28” |
| 6 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +03’01” |
| 7 | Brandon McNulty (Rally Cycling) | +03’28” |
| 8 | Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors | +03’50” |
| 9 | Kristijan Durasek (UAE Team Emirates) | +03’59” |
| 10 | Mathias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale) | +04’01” |
