Intro:

Colombia's Esteban Chaves won the hilly sixth stage of the Tour of California in 100-degree heat Friday (16 May), and Britain's Bradley Wiggins increased his lead in the overall standings.

Script:

With temperatures on Friday surpassing 100 degrees for the third straight day of the Tour of California the riders were looking to catch race leader.

Bradley Wiggins, the Sky rider who won the 2012 Tour de France, finished fifth in the most difficult stage of the eight-day race.

That was good enough for a 30 second lead over Australia's Rohan Dennis of Garmin-Sharp by. And American Lawson Craddock of Giant-Shimano was third overall, 1:48 behind Wiggins.

This particular stage - the 6th - was won by Chaves, riding for Orica-GreenEdge, completing the 99.4-mile leg from Santa Clarita to Mountain High Ski Resort in 4 hours, 9 minutes, 13 seconds.

Spain's David De La Cruz of NetApp-Endura was second in the stage that featured 11,700 feet of climbing, including a 17-mile finishing ascent.

Should Wiggins win, it would be his first victory of the season; meanwhile Mark Cavendish leads in the sprint section.