Aussie Dennis wins Tour of California time trial

Australia's Rohan Dennis won the sixth stage time trial in the Tour of California while France's Julian Alaphilippe finished eighth to retain his grip on the overall lead.

BMC rider Dennis captured the 12.6-mile (20.3km) time trial around the town of Folsom in 24mins 16secs, defeating American Andrew Talansky of Cannondale by 17 seconds with US standout Taylor Phinney, Dennis' BMC teammate, third, another three seconds adrift.

Etixx-Quick Step rider Alaphilippe, meanwhile, kept the overall lead with two stages remaining by finishing only 45 seconds behind Dennis, giving the Frenchman a total time of 24:26:46.

The Aussie's stage triumph jumped him into second place overall, only 16 seconds off the pace after starting the day 61 seconds adrift.

American Brent Bookwalter of BMC was third overall, 38 seconds back after a fifth-place stage finish in which he pulled back only two seconds from Alaphilippe.

The Frenchman had owned a 22-second lead on American Peter Stetina after five stages.

Lotto-Jumbo rider George Bennett of New Zealand, 37 seconds adrift after the fifth stage, fell to ninth overall at 1:45 back.

Saturday's seventh stage will be a 109-mile (175.5km) journey through wine country that begins and ends in Santa Rosa, setting up Sunday's concluding 84.8-mile (136.5km) trek that ends in the state capital of Sacramento.