News | Amgen Tour of California • May 17, 2019
Pogačar Takes Stage and Yellow On Epic Ride To Mt.Baldy
Tadej Pogačar won Stage 6 of the Tour of California, taking the overall lead in the race
The Queen Stage of the 2019 Tour of California was 127,5 kilometers long, starting in Ontario and heading for the summit finish at Mt. Baldy.
All UAE Team Emirates riders kept Pogačar well positioned and out of trouble leading into Mt. Baldy, then Pogačar continued pushing at his own pace to remain in the group of favourites.
Higuita (EF Education First) led the way heading to the final corner, but Pogačar took a better line and came past the Colombian, allowing him to pull ahead and sprint clear for the his first World Tour victory.
In the general classification, the Slovenian is 16 seconds ahead of second place Higuita (EF Education First) heading into the final stage.
Tadej Pogačar, who’s still the leader of the youth classification too: ”It was amazing. Once again my team did a really good job protecting me all day, leading me onto the final climb and supporting me all the way that they could. I just did my best in the last five kilometres. I was starting my sprint behind Higuita and he made mistake on last corner and I went through it much faster than him so was able to come around for the win. It feels really good.
I hope tomorrow I can hold onto the jersey – for sure it would be the biggest win of my career.”
The final stage of the Tour of California takes peloton 126 kilometres from Santa Clarita to Pasadena where the sprinters will have a final chance to battle.
Stage 6 results
1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 3:48:49
2 Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Education First s.t.
3 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma +5″
General Classification after stage 6
1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 30:01:56
2 Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Education First +16″
3 Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep +20″
