Garmin-Barracuda threw everything at Peter Sagan as they raced into Clovis. Didn’t work but at least they tried. Sagan wins his fourth stage in a row in the Tour of California.
With four kilometers to go, US Time Trial champion Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) rocketed out of the pack and created total panic while giving his sprinter Heinrich Haussler a free ride. Omega Pharma Quickstep was on the front trying to set up Tom Boonen but suddenly it was tactical chaos.
Zabriskie got a solid gap and held it until about 1.5 kilometers before they caught him. Then Liquigas went to work and Daniel Oss once again brought Sagan forward. Haussler in living a weird bike racing version of Ground Hog Day and had to settle for second place yet again. Spare a though for the Germanic-Aussie who has been almost brilliant in California. He’s just missing the champagne and podium girls kisses.
As wise man Chris Horner (RadioShack Nissan-Trek) said early on, Sagan could win every stage until the time trial. We’d like to go to Vegas with Horner because he rarely makes a bad guess.
As confident as Sagan is, he knows the flat Bakersfield time trial isn’t exactly his speciality. “Tomorrow I say good bye to the yellow jersey. But for Big Bear, I try another one,” said Sagan after his fourth victory. Don’t doubt the man — he’s won at Big Bear two years ago. And hey, maybe he’s going to work on his time trial position all night and then beat Zabriskie tomorrow. After that he goes into an Indian sweat lodge, loses 25 pounds and out-climbs Horner on Baldy.
It could happen. Do not doubt the crazy Slovakian.
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