Tour Méditerranéen: Thomas Löfkvist nicks overall race in dramatic final stage

Jürgen Roelandts escapes to stage victory as Maxim Monfort misses the split

Thomas Löfkvist scored the very first race victory for new Swiss team IAM Cycling as he secured the overall title at the Tour Méditerranéen after a dramatic final stage between Bandol and Grasse. The stage was won by Belgian rouleur/sprinter Jürgen Roelandts (Lotto-Belisol) after dropping Francesco Reda (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) in the closing kilometres, with the Italian taking his second runner up spot in as many days; Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi) outsprinted Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia) for third place at the end of an attacking 197km.

As the peloton shattered in the closing kilometres, allowing Roelandts and Reda to escape, Löfkvist – who began the day in third place, two seconds behind race leader Maxime Monfort (RadioShack-Leopard) – managed to stay with the first main group, but Monfort did not. The Swedish rider took seventh place, 17 seconds behind Roelandts, but Monfort lost 35 seconds; with overnight second place Lars Boom (Blanco) losing several minutes, Löfkvist won the race overall.

Frenchman Jean-Christophe Péraud (AG2R La Mondiale), the winner of the previous stage, ended the race on the same time as Löfkvist, but the Swede was awarded the victory thanks to better finishing places overall.

After a number of unsuccessful early attacks, which caused the peloton to split in two, a group of 17 riders escaped just before the 50km mark. In the group were Vincent Jérôme and Christophe Kern (both Europcar), Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale), Jérémy Roy and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Romain Zingle (Cofidis), Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing), Bob Jungels (Radioshack-Leopard), André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Evgeni Petrov (Saxo-Tinkoff), Ion Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM), Jean-Marc Marino (Sojasun), Pierre-Luc Perichon (Bretagne-Séché), Théo Vimpère (BigMat-Auber 93), and Emanuele Sella and Patrick Facchini (both Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela).

Of the group of leaders, Roy was the best placed overall, just 1’30” behind Monfort in 17th place, and the Frenchman was very quickly the race leader on the road. After 113km the breakaway’s lead reached its maximum of 3’45”, before it began to come down again on the approach to the final climb of the race; as they arrived at the foot of the Col du Tanneron, after 143km, the gap had dropped to 1’30”, and Monfort was back in the virtual lead.

The lead group began to split over the top of the climb, with Vimpère, Kern, Marino and Greipel dropped and, following the descent, Roy, Kadri and Izagirre were the only ones left in the lead. The FDJ rider was back in the virtual race lead as the trio crossed the line to start the 24km finishing loop, with the peloton now 2’50” behind again; despite Pinot catching up again, and lending his strength to his teammate’s bid for glory, the peloton began to hunt them down again.

Steadily the lead came down – with Petrov and Keizer both rejoining the lead group – and, as they were on the verge of being caught with just over ten kilometres to go, Kadri attacked alone. The AG2R La Mondiale rider had just 15 seconds’ lead, however, and was caught with eight kilometres left.

Reda tried to attack almost immediately the race was together, he was quickly joined by Roelandts, and the Belgian managed to drop the Italian before the finish. Monfort found himself caught behind a late split in the peloton, handing the overall race to Löfkvist.

Tour of the Mediterranean (2.1):

Stage 5 : Bandol – Grasse:

1, Thomas Lövkvist (IAM Cycling) 12 hours 27 mins 24 secs
2, Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) same time
3, Francesco Reda (Androni Giocattoli) at 11 secs
4, Maxime Monfort (RadioShack Leopard) at 16 secs
5, Nicolas Roche (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) at 20 secs
6, Bauke Mollema (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 30 secs
7, Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol) at 41 secs
8, Gustav Larsson (IAM Cycling) at 50 secs
9, Alexandre Geniez (FDJ)
10, Arthur Vichot (FDJ) at 1 min 6 secs
11, Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling) at 1 min 21 secs
12, Rémi Pauriol (Sojasun) at 1 min 37 secs
13, Ivan Santaromita (BMC Racing Team) at 1 min 40 secs
14, Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 50 secs
15, Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli) at 2 mins 4 secs
16, Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) at 2 mins 6 secs
17, Amaël Moinard (BMC Racing Team) at 2 mins 17 secs
18, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
19, Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar) at 2 mins 22 secs
20, Davide Malacarne (Team Europcar) at 2 mins 51 secs
21, Rudy Molard (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
22, Riccardo Chiarini (Androni Giocattoli) at 2 mins 59 secs
23, Julien Simon (Sojasun) at 3 mins 44 secs
24, Carlos Julian Quintero (Colombia) at 3 mins 53 secs
25, Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R La Mondiale)
26, Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 4 mins 12 secs
27, Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia) at 4 mins 34 secs
28, Lars Boom (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 5 mins 40 secs
29, Jérémy Roy (FDJ) at 5 mins 48 secs
30, David Veilleux (Team Europcar) at 6 mins 32 secs
31, Romain Lemarchand (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 6 mins 47 secs
32, Thomas Rohregger (RadioShack Leopard) at 6 mins 52 secs
33, Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 7 mins 26 secs
34, Rafael Valls Ferri (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 7 mins 32 secs
35, Fabrice Jeandesboz (Sojasun) at 8 mins 16 secs
36, Alexandre Pichot (Team Europcar) at 8 mins 18 secs
37, Benjamin King (RadioShack Leopard) at 8 mins 22 secs
38, Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) at 8 mins 28 secs
39, Julien Antomarchi (La Pomme Marseille) at 8 mins 34 secs
40, Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale) at 8 mins 40 secs
41, Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale) at 9 mins 4 secs
42, Matthias Brandle (IAM Cycling) at 9 mins 8 secs
43, Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) at 9 mins 14 secs
44, Mikael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale) at 9 mins 20 secs
45, Klaas Lodewyck (BMC Racing Team) at 9 mins 26 secs
46, Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli) at 9 mins 41 secs
47, Emanuele Sella (Androni Giocattoli) at 10 mins 22 secs
48, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 10 mins 39 secs
49, Arnaud Gerard (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) at 10 mins 43 secs
50, Stéphane Rossetto (BigMat-Auber 93) at 10 mins 46 secs
51, Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ) at 10 mins 57 secs
52, Jorge Azanza Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 11 mins 0 secs
53, Mathieu Drujon (BigMat-Auber 93) at 11 mins 16 secs
54, Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 11 mins 56 secs
55, Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli) at 12 mins 55 secs
56, Evgeny Petrov (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) at 13 mins 0 secs
57, Michael Rogers (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) at 13 mins 35 secs
58, Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 14 mins 27 secs
59, Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Colombia) at 14 mins 53 secs
60, Clément Koretzky (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) at 14 mins 56 secs
61, Christopher Juul Jensen (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) at 15 mins 26 secs
62, Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing Team) at 16 mins 5 secs
63, Bob Jungels (RadioShack Leopard) at 16 mins 40 secs
64, Thomas Degand (Accent Jobs-Wanty) at 17 mins 47 secs
65, Brice Feillu (Sojasun) at 18 mins 19 secs
66, Patrick Facchini (Androni Giocattoli) at 18 mins 29 secs
67, Willem Wauters (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 18 mins 41 secs
68, Vincent Jerome (Team Europcar) at 19 mins 10 secs
69, Christophe Le Mevel (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 19 mins 40 secs
70, Jean Marc Marino (Sojasun) at 20 mins 18 secs
71, Brian Bulgac (Lotto Belisol) at 20 mins 36 secs
72, Grégoire Tarride (La Pomme Marseille) at 20 mins 41 secs
73, Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team) at 20 mins 48 secs
74, Grega Bole (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 20 mins 52 secs
75, Romain Bacon (BigMat-Auber 93) at 21 mins 3 secs
76, Nikita Novikov (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 21 mins 23 secs
77, Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Colombia) at 21 mins 42 secs
78, Théo Vimpere (BigMat-Auber 93) at 23 mins 18 secs
79, Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling) at 23 mins 21 secs
80, Rory Sutherland (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) at 23 mins 41 secs
81, Florian Guillou (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) at 24 mins 31 secs
82, Frederik Willems (Lotto Belisol) at 24 mins 54 secs
83, Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team) at 25 mins 16 secs
84, André Greipel (Lotto Belisol) at 25 mins 32 secs
85, Maurits Lammertink (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 27 mins 26 secs
86, Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 27 mins 29 secs
87, Dominic Klemme (IAM Cycling) at 27 mins 38 secs
88, Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Belisol) at 27 mins 45 secs
89, Gert Dockx (Lotto Belisol) at 28 mins 0 secs
90, Nicolas Vogondy (Accent Jobs-Wanty) at 28 mins 44 secs
91, Sébastien Duret (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) at 29 mins 9 secs
92, Rick Flens (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 29 mins 13 secs
93, Jens Debusschere (Lotto Belisol) at 29 mins 28 secs
94, Manuel Belletti (AG2R La Mondiale) at 32 mins 23 secs
95, Olivier Kaisen (Lotto Belisol) at 33 mins 11 secs
96, Will Routley (Accent Jobs-Wanty)
97, Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) at 34 mins 8 secs
98, Adrian Honkisz (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
99, Steven Tronet (BigMat-Auber 93) at 34 mins 55 secs
100, Christophe Kern (Team Europcar) at 38 mins 50 secs