Adopted Los Angeles resident Phil Gaimon (Cannondale Pro Cycling) is probably one of the top riders in the Tour of California peloton when it comes to local knowledge of the 2016 race's queen stage, which runs from Thousand Oaks to the climb up Gibraltar Road outside of Santa Barbara.
Although Gaimon agreed that the 2016 route is definitely harder than in years past, he said the summit finish this year on Gibraltar is very much like last year's queen-stage ride to the top of Mt. Baldy, where Julian Alaphilippe took the stage win and the race lead, but Peter Sagan finished close enough to keep his general classification hopes alive.
"I'd say they're pretty similar," Gaimon said of Baldy and Gibraltar. "The run-ins are tough for both of them, but Gibraltar will be nicer weather. I guess we'll know when we see what the time gaps are."
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Gaimon said he expects a small group to approach the stage 3 finish together before one rider drops the rest and wins alone.
"I think it will be one guy in the picture [at the finish]," he said, adding that he expects that solo riders to be his teammate, Lawson Craddock.
"I like Lawson for that, the way he has been going uphill," Gaimon said, pointing to Craddock's ninth-place overall finish last month in Pais Vasco to back up his prediction. "I've been seeing all spring he's just getting better and better every race."
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