Noa Isadore bookended the Tour du Limousin with his second stage win of the week on Friday, the Decathlon-CMA CGM rider winning from a small group.
Having taken a solo victory on Wednesday's second stage, Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ United) won the overall title for the second consecutive year, finishing a few second behind the stage winner on the final day of four.
Isadore infiltrated a small group which the Cofidis team led off the front of the bunch in the final kilometre, eventually out-sprinting Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) and Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies).
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Aranburu's second place meant he took second overall with Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) in third. Both men finished 15 seconds behind Costiou, though the Spaniard took second on countback.
Taking the riders on a 178.7km stage between Nantiat and Limoges, stage four set the peloton another hilly day, with three finishing laps each containing a short climb.
The day’s breakaway was quick to get away, Victor Van de Putte (Lotto-Intermarché), Arnaud Tendon (Van Rysel-Roubaix), Victor Jean (Elite Fondations), Jaakko Hänninen (Nice Métropole-Côte d’Azur) and Jean-Louis Le Ny (Venice Club Rouen 76) building a lead over two minutes.
That advantage began to decrease as the race entered its final 60km, Decathlon-CMA CGM and Cofidis slowly bringing them to heel. With the deficit just over one minute as the race approached 30km to go, a mechanical gave race leader Ewen Costiou a scare, though the Groupama rider was soon on a spare bike and heading back to the bunch, two teammates to guide him.
The breakaway was left to dangle off the front of the peloton for a long while, though they were finally brought back 16km, a series of attacks punctuating the final. Mathis le Berre (TotalEnergies) managed to get a gap on the final lap, but was never able to threaten Costiou’s GC lead, despite having started the day only 38 seconds down.
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