Tadej Pogacar finished safely in the bunch to seal the final yellow jersey of the 2019 Tour of California in Pasadena today.
The 20-year-old from UAE Team Emirates, who took the overall lead after winning atop Mt Baldy yesterday, beat Colombia’s Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) by 16 seconds in the week-long race. Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), 20 seconds back, finished third overall.
“This race was my main goal this year,” said the Slovenian. “I knew that I was prepared.
“I surprised myself a bit that I took the overall win. But I’m really happy and looking forward to next season.”
Pogacar also claimed the best young rider jersey, with Davide Ballerini (Astana) and Asgreen winning the king of the mountains and points competitions respectively.
Cees Bol (Sunweb) won the 126km final stage into Santa Clarita, beating stage one winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the sprint.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), who struggled throughout, abandoned with 65km left on the final stage.
Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) was the overall winner of the women’s race. She beat teammate Katharine Hall by 29 seconds with South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) third, just over a minute in arrears.
Stage seven results:
1. Cees Bol (Team Sunweb) 2:53:16
2. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) st
3. Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) st
4. Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Merida) st
5. Maximiliano Richeze (Deceuninck-QuickStep) st
6. Kristoffer Halvorsen (Team Ineos) st
7. Travis McCabe (USA National Team) st
8. Andrea Peron (Team Novo Nordisk) st
9. Jens Debusschere (Katusha-Alpecin) st
10. Edwin Avila (Israel Cycling Academy) st
Final general classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 32:55:21
2. Sergio Andres Higuita (Col) EF Education First 0:00:16
3. Kasper Asgreen (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:17
4. George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:29
5. Richie Porte (Aus) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:41
6. Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:03
7. Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:18
8. Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
9. Tejay van Garderen (USA) EF Education First 0:01:22
10. Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:23
11. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
12. Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:01:38
13. Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team 0:01:50
14. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First 0:01:58
15. Gavin Mannion (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:02:17
Women’s race final general classification
1. Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team)
2. Katharine Hall (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) 0:00:29
3. Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) at 0:01:06
