Cycling: Bradley Wiggins (Sky) cleared the boat on stage six of the Tour of California and consolidated his lead in the overall standings. Fifth place was enough for the Brit. The day's win went to Johan Chavez (Orica-GreenEdge). Second was David de la Cruz (NetApp-Endura) ahead of Tom Danielson (Gramin Sharp).
The sixth stage wasn't the longest at 156 kilometers, but the ascent to the finish line up to Mountain High should demand everything from the riders - not least because of the extreme temperatures again.
Despite this, six drivers attacked relatively early. After just thirty kilometers, Chavez, De la Cruz and Danielson broke away from the field along with Jack Bobridge (Belkin), Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare) and Javier Megias Leal (Novo Nordisk). A strong tailwind helped them to a decent lead. At the start of the climb to the finish line, it was still more than three minutes. This should be enough for Chavez. In the last kilometers he finally broke away from his remaining breakaways and celebrated an impressive solo victory.
In the field, however, Team Sky ensured the pace for its captain. This work caused the field to become smaller and smaller. In the end, Wiggins took over the reins himself. He not only distanced himself from his worst opponent Rohan Dennis (Garmin Sharp), but also from the Portuguese Tiago Machado from the Raublinger Team NetApp-Endura, who lost his third place in the overall standings.