Megias Finishes 14th Overall at Tour of California

Race: Tour of California, Stage 8 

Start/Finish: Sacramento/ Sacramento, California, USA

Distance: 85.7 mile, 138 kilometers

Sacramento, California — Team Novo Nordisk’s Javier Megias secured 14^th overall at the Amgen Tour of California after jumping two spots following Stage 8. The strong finish is Team Novo Nordisk best result to date at the biggest American race. Megias’ previous best result at the Tour of California was 35^th overall in 2014.

“Javi moved up to 14^th overall, which is our best-ever result at the Tour of California,” Team Novo Nordisk Senior Vice President of Athletics Vassili Davidenko said. “We have been working hard all week to get into the top 10, but I still think 14 is great.”

Sunday’s 85.7-mile race was relatively flat and featured two intermediate sprints before finishing laps around downtown Sacramento. The day saw a seven riders attack immediately following the neutral zone. The peloton kept them within a manageable distance throughout the race to ensure a sprint finish. All escapees were caught with less than a mile remaining. Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) won the bunch sprint while Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick Step) held on to the overall race win. Joonas Henttala and Charles Planet crashed in the finish, but both were able to complete the race.

“It was a challenging and difficult day, especially in the finale,” Davidenko said. “In the finale, there was a big crash and several of our guys were involved. Unfortunately, we had no one in the sprint because of that crash but we are still pleased with how Javi finished.”

Other highlights of the eight-day race included Martijn Verschoor sprinting to fifth on Stage 1, Joonas Henttala starring in the breakaway on Stage 1 and Megias bridging up to the break on Stage 7 and earning vital time bonuses in the intermediate sprints.

Team Novo Nordisk returns to racing on Monday, May 30^th for the Winston-Salem Road Race.

Results: 

• 1^st: Mark Cavendish (Dimension data): 3:01:12
• 2^nd: Peter Sagan (Tinkoff): same time as Cavendish
• 3^rd: Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha): same time as Cavendish

Team Novo Nordisk Results: 

• Javier Megias: 48^th: 0:35 behind Cavendish
• Charles Planet: 50^th: 0:40 behind Cavendish
• Andrea Peron: 79^th: 1:28 behind Cavendish
• David Lozano: 114^th: 3:28 behind Cavendish
• Chris Williams: 125^th: 3:50 behind Cavendish
• Martijn Verschoor: 126^th: 3:50 behind Cavendish
• Joonas Henttala: 131^st: 6:17 behind Cavendish

Team Novo Nordisk Overall Results: 

• Javier Megias: 14^th: 3:53 behind Alaphilippe
• Joonas Henttala: 78^th: 1:02:25 behind Alaphilippe
• David Lozano: 91^st: 1:13:44 behind Alaphilippe
• Charles Planet: 102^nd: 1:22:34 behind Alaphilippe
• Andrea Peron: 109^th: 1:25:46 behind Alaphilippe
• Martijn Verschoor: 124^th: 1:34:38 behind Alaphilippe
• Chris Williams: 128^th: 1:38:22 behind Alaphilippe

(Photo: ©TDWSport)