Etoile de Bessèges: Samuel Leroux holds off charging field to win stage 4

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Dries De Bondt takes second, Stefan Bissegger third in breakaway sprint into Méjannes-le-Clap

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MEJANNESLECLAP FRANCE FEBRUARY 03 Samuel Leroux of France and Team Van Rysel Roubaix C celebrates at finish line as stage winner ahead of LR Dries De Bondt of Belgium and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team and Stefan Bissegger of Switzerland and Team EF Education EasyPost during the 54th Etoile de Besseges Tour du Gard Stage 4 a 15848km stage from MejannesleClap to MejannesleClap on February 03 2024 in MejannesleClap France Photo by Luc ClaessenGetty Images
Samuel Leroux celebrates at finish line as stage winner at 54th Etoile de Besseges (Image credit: Getty Images)

Samuel Leroux surprised the big-name riders and overall contenders at the Etoile de Bessèges, winning stage 4 to Méjannes-le-Clap from the early break of the day.

The Van Rysel–Roubaix rider dug deep on the climb to the finish to close a gap, hold off the peloton and win the four-rider sprint.

Leroux beat Dries De Bondt (Decathlon Ag2r), Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) Jonas Hvideberg and Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (both Uno-X Mobility).

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Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) won the sprint behind for fifth place, just two seconds down on a tired but happy Leroux.

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) finished in the chase group and so retained the overall race lead, with just Sunday’s 10.6km individual time trial around Alès to race. He leads Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck) by just six seconds, with eight other riders within 28 seconds.

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Stephen Farrand
Stephen Farrand
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).

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