Timo Roosen and George Bennett showed themselves during the fourth stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Roosen formed part of the early breakaway and Bennett took the initiative in the final part of the stage. It was not enough to hold off Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) from winning the stage.

Riders fought to get into the breakaway. After 65 kilometres, a group of riders formed with Timo Roosen among the seven leaders. “None of the riders were dangerous for the overall leader, but instead of the team of the yellow jersey, Tinkoff started to control the race,” Sports Director Frans Maassen said. “The break lasted quite long, not to the finish. Bennett tried to prevent a bunch sprint in the final part of the race, but he failed. I think that Timo delivered a very strong stage. The escapees definitely had a chance to make it today.”

“I rode attentively to be part of the breakaway,” Roosen added. “We had a nice group of riders and got a maximum advantage of five minutes, 30 seconds. We did the best we could in the final hour, but it wasn’t enough, unfortunately.”

The peloton reduced massively during the hilly final part of the stage. In the last kilometres, the front group split. Bennett lost three seconds because of that, but held his third position in the general classification.”