Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) clung on to win the overall title at the Tour de l’Ain on Thursday as Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) soloed to a memorable stage victory on a thrilling final day.
Pedrero emerged from a chaotic start to form part of the day’s main three-man breakaway, then proceeded to solo to victory from nearly 60km out.
As he made his way over two ascents of the Col de Menthières, he managed to hold off a vastly-reduced and increasingly-panicked yellow jersey group, to the extent that he almost stole away with the overall title.
Having started the day 2:06 down, Pedrero entered the final 5km in the virtual lead of the race but Martin held firm and found just enough cooperation in the chase group to cling onto yellow.
Mathias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) was the Frenchman’s main threat, second overall at six seconds, and sprinted away in sight of the line, but by that point George Bennett (UAE Team Emirates) and Harry Sweeny (Lotto Soudal) had sprung clear to mop up second and third place and the associate bonus seconds.
Had they not been ahead, Skjelmose would have won the overall title, bonus seconds tying him for time with Martin and his superior placing on the opening day handing him yellow.
As it was, Martin breathed a huge sigh of relief at the finish.
“It was a big mathematical equation,” said the philosophy graduate. “It was very hard physically but also very hard tactically, with lots of gaps…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…