Skjelmose takes Etoile de Bessèges lead with stage 4 victory

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Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) took victory on stage 4 of the Etoile de Bessèges on the summit finish at Mont Bouquet, taking the overall race lead in the process.

The Dane beat Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) in a two-up sprint to take the victory. Further back, at 13 seconds and 19 seconds, Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) and Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) trailed home in third and fourth places, with no other rider finishing within a minute of the winner.

Previous leader Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) may have overcome a hilly finale on stage 3 in Bessèges to take his second win of the race and third of the season, but the steep inclines of Mont Bouquet would prove too much for the young Belgian. The sprinter fought admirably to finish in eighth on the stage and now lies fifth overall, 1:19 down on Skjelmose.

The day, with its 5km-long summit finish, would prove among the more decisive of the five-day race, which had previously featured two flatter days and the neutralised second stage.

A fast start saw a small group briefly break away before getting caught back, but with a threat of crosswinds the peloton sped along through the opening 50km of the 147.5km stage.

At the 40km mark, the winds blew hard, and the peloton broke up as a result. A strong lead group – including Skjelmose, Powless, Latour, De Lie, Sivakov, and several more notable riders such as Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) – got up the road with an advantage of 40 seconds on the peloton.

It was this group which would go on to contest the final, growing their lead as each kilometre passed up to 1:30 at the midway mark.

French squads Cofidis, Arkéa-Samsic, and Groupama-FDJ were among the teams leading the chase back in the peloton, but their efforts wouldn’t be enough to bring the leaders back before Mont Bouquet, where the gap was still over a minute at the base.

The climb saw the end of the road for many of the sprinters and Classics men helping pull the group along, including Pedersen, who would win the combativity award for his efforts.

On the 9% slopes rearing up to the finish, it was Powless who struck first, thinning out the group as Skjelmose responded first. The pair were joined in the lead by fellow climbers Sivakov and Latour, and, perhaps more surprisingly, De Lie.

Powless kept going, attacking once more, eventually leading to De Lie dropping away from the elite group 3km from the summit.

The US rider created a gap to his rivals, eking out around 10 seconds before Skjelmose responded behind and leaving Latour and Sivakov behind. Aside from Skjelmose and Powless at the front in the final 2km, it was man vs man out on the mountain.

At the front, the pair rode together into the final kilometre, content to leave it to the final metres and the sprint to the line. In the end it was Skjelmose who had the more powerful burst, passing Powless in the final metres to take a clear win, the third of his career.

The 22-year-old now leads Powless by four second at the top of the general classification heading into the 10.7km final stage time trial in Alès. Latour lies third overall at 22 seconds with Sivakov in fourth at a minute.

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