Bbox Bouygues-Telecom rider Yohann Gene won the field sprint to claim the fifth stage of the of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo (Gabon) ahead of teammate Giovanni Bernaudeu.
The day’s 147.5km stage featured a break of three riders from the Africa including Ismael Ayoune (Morocco), Hamidou Yamiego (Burkina Faso) and Gabon’s own Ephrem Ekobena. The trio built up a lead that maxed out at more than eight minutes during the race’s longest stage. The breakaway looked promising early on, but ended up being swallowed up by the bunch 10 kilometers from the line.
Anthony Charteau still leads the general classification going into Sunday’s final stage in Libreville.
Stage Results:
1 – (55) GENE Yohann / Bbox-Bouygues Telecom (France)
2 – (52) BERNAUDEAU Giovanni / Bbox-Bouygues Telecom (France)
3 – (46) ROUSSEAU Nicolas / AG2R-La Mondiale (France)
4 – (63) Jebjerg Kasper / DESIGN-Kokken Team (Denmark)
5 – (2) BLOT Guillaume / Cofidis (France)
General Classification after stage 5:
1 – (53) Anthony CHARTEAU / BBox Bouygues-Telecom
2 – (31) Ian MACLEOD / Team MTN (South Africa)
3 – (45) Julien Loubet / AG2R-La Mondiale (France)
4 – (5) Samuel Dumoulin / Cofidis (France)
5 – (6) MOINARD Amaël / Cofidis (France)