TOULOUSE, France – Canadian Michael Woods (Israel-Premier tech) won the Route d’Occitanie on Sunday, the 4th and final stage of which, between Les Angles (Pyrénées-Orientales) and Auterive (Haute-Garonne), was won in the sprint by the Italian Niccolo Bonifazio (Total Energies).
Third in the Worlds in 2018 and winner of the two stages in the Tour of Spain, the experienced Canadian (35) had done the hardest part the day before by winning the queen stage through the Pyrenees.
Attentive, the latter took the right wheels when a group of around thirty riders, made up of all the main protagonists in the general classification, broke away more than 60 kilometers from the finish.
Trapped by this border, the French sprinter Arnaud Démare, who was one of the favorites of the day, never managed to come back, very quickly giving up all his chances of a double after his success at Isle-Jourdain during the first stage.
Le Picard, who has made the next French Championship his main objective for the summer since he will not be starting the Grande Boucle in a fortnight, has a week ahead of him to regain his freshness.
In his absence, the other sprinters of this Route d’Occitanie explained themselves to each other and it was the Italian Bonifazio who pulled out of the game by getting the better of his compatriot Matteo Moschetti (Trek-Segafredo) and the German Max Kanter (Movistar).
Ranking of the 4th stage :
1.Niccolo Bonifazio (ITA/TEN) 4h13min48sec
(average: 45.31 km/h)
2. Mattéo Moschetti (ITA/TFS) mt
3. Max Kanter (GER/MOV) mt
4. Elia Viviani (ITA/IGD) mt
5. Thomas Boudat (FRA / GRL) mt
6. Mattias Jensen (DEN/TFS) mt
7. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) mt
8. Jonas Wilsly (DEN/UXT) mt
9. Jesus Herrada (ESP/COF) mt
10. Kim Heiduk (IGD) mt
…
11. Nairo Quintana (COL/ARK) mt
15. Michael Woods (CAN/IPT) mt
28. Arnaud Démare (FRA / GFC) at 59 sec
Final general classification
1. Michael Woods (CAN/IPT) 14h33min48sec
2. Carlos Rodriguez (ESP / GRD) at 1:16
3. Jesus Herrada (ESP/COF) 1:21
4. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 1:24
5. Mattias Jensen (DEN/TFS) 1:44
6. Jonas Vilsly (DEN/UXT) 1:47
7. Nairo Quintana (COL/ARK) 1:48
8. Cristian Rodriguez (ESP/TEN) mt
9. Nicolas Edet (FRA / ARK) 3:41
10. Andrey Zeits (KAZ/AST) 4:48
…
69. Arnaud Demare (FRA / GFC) 39:13
84. Simon Carr (GBR/EFE) 46:24
