Frank wins final Critérium International stage

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Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) won the final stage of the Criterium International by outsprinting Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) on the Cote de l'Ospidale mountain finish. Tiago Machado (NetApp-Endura) placed third at two seconds while Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing), who attacked the small lead group frequently in the closing kilometres, placed fourth at three seconds.

The top three of the stage proved to be the top three in the final rankings, albeit in a slightly different order. Peraud took the general classification title by one second ahead of Frank, with Machado placing third overall at 19 seconds. Overnight leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano), winner of the stage two time trial, put in a strong effort to stay with the lead group for much of the final climb but ultimately cracked inside the final 5.5 kilometres and lost more than two minutes plus the yellow jersey.

A day in the mountains

There was sun again at the start in Porte Vecchio as the peloton took off on the third and final stage of the Criterium International. This year's mountain stage featured six climbs, including the closing climb up the Col de l'Ospedale.

A five-man group take off early comprised of Julien Fouchard (Cofidis), Leonardo Duque (Colombia), Angelo Tulik (Europcar), Flavien Dassonville (BigMat-Auber 93) and Yoann Paillot (La Pomme Marseille 13). They built up a lead of 4:25 as Duque was the first over the top of the day's first climb, the Cote de Rocapina, and the gap had increased by only five seconds as he also took top points at the next climb, the Cote d'Orasi.

The gap had climbed to 4:45 at 77km, but then started coming down, hitting 3:15 at the 94km marker, and had dropped to under a minute after 90km. Only 22km later they were caught and the field was back together again. The peloton went into the last 50km and the last two climbs as a group.

As they headed to the final climb, Caleb Fairly (Garmin-Sharp) and Bryan Nauleau (Europcar) gained a slight lead over the peloton of only some 60 riders – with Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) being one of those dropped. The leading duo had a gap of up to 43 seconds, but Tinkoff-Saxo led the charge to bring them back.

Fairly and Nauleau clung tenaciously to their slender lead, taking 10 seconds with them as they started up the climb, but were soon caught. The 14km-long climb and the speed were brutal enough that the field behind them diminished, with Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp), who started the stage second on GC, amongst those struggling.

Two Bretagne Seche Environmente riders looked for their chance with about 9km to go but couldn't get more than a few metres lead. Trek Factory Racing led the way up, looking to take the win for Bob Jungels, and more and more riders fell off the back. AG2R La Mondiale then took over the lead work, and carried a group of only about 24 riders into the final 6km.

Race leader Tom Dumoulin managed to hang on until the final 5.5 km, when he, too, had to drop back. A group of only seven went into the last 5km, with Jungels having also been dropped, but Fränk Schleck still up there. AG2R had demolished the field, and still had two riders in the lead group.

The French riders continued to try and shatter the group, pushing the pace as often as possible. Schleck attacked a number of times too, but the small group determinedly wouldn't let him or anyone else away.

With about 2.5km to go, another attack was enough to drop three more riders, leaving only Schleck, Frank, Peraud and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) together. Schleck led the way up the steepest part of the climb, before Frank took over. The Luxembourger kept trying to attack, with Majka continually covering him. The four eyed each other as they went under the flamme rouge marker at 1km to go, and their cat-and-mouse tactics enabled the chasing Machado to bridge back up to the front.

Schleck went yet again, followed by Frank, and Frank drove hard the final meters to take the win ahead of Peraud and Machado, with Schleck crossing the line in fourth.