Stage 2 - Tour of California

Today was a tough day.

Not tough like we suffered and battled all day, but tough because I didn’t deliver the performance I expected of myself. I have been working so hard towards today.

The unpredictability of this sport is what makes it interesting and what gives me personally a lot of hope and ambition, but it is also cruel and so challenging to exist in this as your job, your livelihood.

Stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California was a fairly mellow and uneventful day for the first 140 kilometers leading into the final climb. The pace and position fighting ramped up pretty hard as we approached the final climb, but the BMC Racing Team guys were always up front. I went into the start of the final climb in the first five positions.

The depth of this field began to show as each team had a number of strong guys who all wanted to do an all-out max effort pull to show themselves. If anything, I was maybe too far upfront during this phase. As I followed the acceleration of guys doing their final pulls, I already felt like I was nearing my max. Looking back it’s easy to say that sitting back a bit could have saved me a few accelerations, but being upfront kept me out of the mayhem….so it’s hard to say what would have been the best move.

In the end, Tejay did a solid climb to keep himself within striking distance. I’ll have to go back to the drawing board and get creative with how I can get myself back in the mix and hopefully apply some pressure to the teams ahead of us.

📷 Chris Graythen/Getty Images for AEG