Eighth place felt like first for Julian Alaphilippe on Friday.
The French cyclist known for his climbing ability turned in a surprising performance in the stage 6 time trial at the Tour of California, minimizing his losses in a discipline that has proven difficult for him in the past to retain his overall race lead.
Rohan Dennis won the stage with a blistering performance, covering the 20.28km course in 24 minutes, 16 seconds. But the Australian rider _ and one of the world’s best against the clock _ was still 16 seconds behind Alaphilippe heading into the penultimate stage.
Photo: AFP
BMC Racing’s Brent Bookwalter turned in the fifth-best time, vaulting into third in the overall standings. The veteran American rider was 38 seconds behind Alaphilippe.
Earlier, Twenty16-Ridebiker won the women’s team time trial over the same course, followed by Boels-Dolmans and UnitedHealthcare. Megan Guarnier retained the overall lead.
The stage figured to be the biggest hurdle to victory for Alaphilippe, who doggedly held onto the leader’s jersey he won with an impressive climb up Gibraltar Road. He was 14 seconds off the pace of Dennis at the midway checkpoint before fading to eighth place on the stage.
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