Tour of California 2014 - Stage 6

The Tour of California 2014 had its second summit finish on stage six, as the peloton travelled 156.1 kilometres from Santa Clarita to Mountain High. Temperatures once again soared past 100 degrees fahrenheit, effectively roasting the peloton as they travelled along the smooth Californian roads. Bradley Wiggins went into the day hoping to retain his slender half minute race lead.

Despite the hot temperatures, a breakaway saw stage six as a good opportunity to try and grab a stage win, after stages four and five had also frustrated the peloton. Tom Danielson (Garmin-Sharp) was in the move, along with Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE), David De La Cruz (NetApp-Endura), Jack Bobridge (Belkin), Chris Jones (UnitedHealthcare) and Javier Megias (Novo Nordisk).

There was a strong tailwind helping the breakaway throughout the day, and their lead stretched to four and a half minutes at one point, making GreenEDGE's Chaves briefly the race leader on the road. Team Sky had difficulty chasing the move down, the break reached the base of Mountain High with around three minutes, there was just twenty kilometres left.

The break then gradually disintegrated under the pressure of the heat and the climb, while Sky and BMC controlled the remainders of the peloton. Chaves, De La Cruz and Danielson were the last three riders, with Chaves attacking the duo and dropping them off his wheel. Javier Acevedo of Garmin-Sharp tried to set up something for Rohan Dennis in the peloton, but he was brought back under the pressure of Sky's Joe Dombrowski.

Esteban Chaves went on to win the stage for Orica-GreenEDGE in what was the biggest win of his career, while Bradley Wiggins piled on the pressure in the last couple of kilometres, making it impossible for his rivals to attack him. He finished strongly with the group, even putting a couple of seconds into Peter Stetina and Rohan Dennis. Sir Brad had really taken control of the Tour of California with two stages to go.