TIME bonuses may have cost Mark Renshaw and his Etixx-QuickStep team-mates the chance to celebrate a general classification victory in the Tour of California yesterday, but the Bathurst talent was far from disappointed.

After an absorbing battle with the Tinkoff-Saxo team over eight days, QuickStep ended up with five stage wins, the points jersey for Mark Cavendish and the young riders’ jersey for Julian Alaphilippe.

So when Tinkoff’s Peter Sagan, thanks to his third placing in the final stage, was announced as the yellow jersey winner by two seconds ahead of Alaphilippe, QuickStep still had plenty to be pleased about.

Renshaw played a role in setting up four stage wins for Cavendish as he provided him with a lead-out in the sprints, while the former Bathurst Sportsperson of the Year also worked hard in the peloton on Saturday for Alaphilippe, who went on to claim the honours at Mount Baldy.

“Today Etixx-QuickStep had a battle royal with Tinkoff-Saxo, they won the general classification, but we took our fifth stage win. Can’t be too disappointed,” Renshaw posted on his Twitter account.

“[We] Had a red-hot go to make the race hard, but they held it together. Top week’s racing with the team. Now I cant wait to get back home to family.”

The final stage was a 96.5 kilometre ride from Los Angeles to Pasadena and as it involved six laps of a course after the neutral start, it was like a criterium race for the teams.

QuickStep, who were not only trying to set up Cavendish for another stage win but preserve Alaphilippe’s three-second lead in the general classification, were aggressive throughout.

There were the expected breakaways and Cavendish won the intermediate sprint, but as the finish line loomed it was QuickStep and Tinkoff who went head-to-head.

With Renshaw providing another of his trademark lead outs, Cavendish was the first man across the line, stopping the clock after two hours, 14 minutes and 55 seconds of racing.

Given Cavendish had won five Tour of California stages from three appearances prior to this year’s event, his efforts came as a nice surprise to team officials.

“Really at the end of this week, we can’t complain at all. I don’t think anyone expected the kind of success we had,” QuickStep sport director Brian Holm said.

“Cav, we all know he is fast. But he can’t win without a bunch sprint. We needed a strong team and they really controlled the race from kilometre zero to the finish in every sprint stage. We got some help by Hincapie Racing Team and Tinkoff-Saxo on a stage or two, but it was really up to our riders to chase for Cav. Everybody delivered.”

Renshaw, who covered 1,156km during eight days in California, is likely to compete alongside Cavendish in the Tour de Suisse next month (June 13-21) as the pair continue to build towards the Tour de France in July.