page_title: 2015 Tour of California
section_title: Stage 7
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Tour of California / Stages / Stage 7
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Reportage réalisé le mercredi 15 avril à l'occasion du départ de la Flèche brabançonne 2015 à Louvain, Belgique. Nederlands: Vertrek, woensdag 15 april, Brabantse Pijl 2015, Leuven, België. Depicted person: Julian Alaphilippe Depicted team: Etixx-Quick Step
context_page_description: The 2015 Amgen Tour of California was the tenth edition of the Tour of California cycling stage race. It was held from May 10–17, and rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI America Tour. It began in Sacramento and finished in Pasadena.
  The race's general classification was won by Slovakian Peter Sagan by only three seconds over Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, the closest winning margin in the race's history. Sagan also added two stages to his palmares, including the individual time trial. Colombian Sergio Henao completed the podium.
  The sprints competition was won by Briton Mark Cavendish, who also was the winner of four individual stages. The mountains classification jersey went to Italian Daniel Oss of BMC Racing Team, while Julian Alaphilippe took the best young rider's jersey and the queen stage 7. Team Sky was awarded the "best team" title. Latvian Toms Skujiņš of domestic team Hincapie Racing also won a stage and wore the leader's jersey for three stages.
context_section_description: 16 May  Ontario to Mount Baldy, 80 mi (128.7 km)
  This was the queen stage of the 2015 Tour of California. The riders contended with the first King of the Mountains competition of the day which was Glendora Ridge Road (Cat. 2) and went down to the intermediate sprint in Glendale. Immediately afterward the climbing resumed back up Glendora Mountain Road (Cat. 2) and up to the Mount Baldy Ski Lifts (Hors Category), an ascent that took the competitors from an altitude of about 1,000 ft (300 m) to approximately 6,800 ft (2,100 m). Mount Baldy has 15 switchbacks and a maximum 17% gradient. It is no surprise that this stage featured the biggest elevation gain of the race, with 11,600 ft (3,500 m) of climbing.
  The stage was a short stage but hardly featured any flat terrain, which made for intense racing as it was a deciding factor in the general classification standings. As the race got on its way, reports indicated that the temperatures at the finish line were as low as 42 °F (6 °C). The race start saw a flurry of attacks which were quickly brought back. On the climb to Glendora Ridge road, a break tried to get clear including second-placed Toms Skujiņš (Hincapie Racing), who was wearing the polka dot jersey and had an advantage of a single point over Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team), who was also part of that move. The other breakers were Gregory Brenes (Jamis–Hagens Berman), Lasse Norman Hansen (Cannondale–Garmin), Steven Butler (Team SmartStop), Daniele Ratto (UnitedHealthcare) and Johann Van Zyl of MTN–Qhubeka. Before the end of the climb, Skujiņš folded back to the peloton. Lachlan Morton of Jelly Belly–Maxxis joined the break as Ratto and Hansen were distanced. Oss took maximum points on the Category 2 affair, with the bunch looming two minutes behind at that point. Nobody in the breakaway was much of a threat on general classification as Oss was the better placed rider at 9:29.
  The breakaway was splitting up on the twisting, narrow descent and a trio of leaders formed: Oss, Butler and Morton. They were chased by the former breakaway riders who made contact in the run-in to Glendale. Meanwhile, the peloton containing the favorites and race leader Peter Sagan were almost four minutes in arrears. They were six forming the lead group as Butler was the lone chaser. He didn't make it back to the break. Team Sky, Tinkoff–Saxo and LottoNL–Jumbo were working at the front of the bunch. The riders were racing near the Morris Reservoir as they were dealing with the only big stretch of flatter roads of the stage. Lasse Norman Hansen happened to be at the front when crossing the intermediate sprint, which was not contested as it had no consequence on the points classification for the escapees. Then, it was mostly uphill for 25 mi (40.2 km) until the finish line. Van Syl attacked and Oss made contact. With 20 mi (32.2 km) to race, the gap from the peloton to the front of the race was two minutes and Team Sky toughened the pace in an effort to drop Peter Sagan, the leader of the race. Oss won the Glendora Mountain Road KOM. It was his objective all along, and he let himself be distanced by Van Syl to reintegrate the remnants of the main field.
  Toms Skujiņš, second on general classification, was distanced with 15 mi (24.1 km) to race and Van Zyl was reabsorbed around that point. With 12 mi (19.3 km) to go all the favorites were still in the leading group, including Sagan. Former winner of this stage in 2012 Robert Gesink of LottoNL–Jumbo was dropped with 3.5 mi (5.6 km) to cover. Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx–Quick-Step) took the lead of the very depleted group and Team Sky's Sergio Henao attacked, dropping Sagan who still hammered the pedals as he tried to hold on to his 45-second lead in the general classification. The Frenchman responded to Henao's attack and dropped the Colombian. Snow was covering the sides of the road as they were at altitude. At that point, there literally was no "group" to speak of, at the front of the race at least. Alaphilippe soloed through the twisting finale featuring bad tarmac and held on to win atop Mount Baldy 
caption: Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe won the queen stage of the Tour of California at only 22 years old. He is pictured at the 2015 Brabantse Pijl
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