Etoile de Besseges: De Bie wins stage 4

Sean De Bie (Verandas Willems-Crelan) won the bunch sprint up the Mur de Laudun, winning the fourth stage of the Etoile de Besseges. He topped Timothy Dupont (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Rudy Barbier (AG2R La Mondiale). Marc Sarreau (FDJ) finished eighth to retain his overall lead.

Sarreau now goes into Sunday’s closing time trial with an eight-second lead over Thomas Boudat (Direct Energie) and ten seconds over Bryan Coquard (Vital Concept).

A dangerous escape group around Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) formed early but was soon pulled back. The next group to try its luck consisted of Remy Di Gregorio (Delko Marseille-Provence KTM), Tom Devriendt (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix- Metropole) and Gianni Marchand (Cibel-Cebon). They had more luck and quickly built up a lead of two minutes.

Di Gregorio took the first of two ranked climbs as the gap nudged the three minute mark. Marchand took the second climb.

The stage closed with four laps of a 15.6km circuit course, each ending with a climb of the short but steep Mur de Laudun. Race leader Marc Sarreau (FDJ) had a scare on the first lap, being thrown back by a mechanical and having to ride back up alone. The lead group took only 1:20 with it as it headed into the second lap.

On that second lap, the peloton split, with Sarreau caught in the back group. He made his way back up again but the high speed had the field shedding many riders. With 34km to go the gap had fallen under a minute.

The four leaders hung on to their lead desperately, and Devriendt kept trying. He succeeded in breaking from the group and took a 30 second lead into the final lap. With 5km to go he had only a few seconds in hand, but he too was then caught up by the field, and the bunch sprint was set up.

A Cofidis rider dashed out in the finale, but it was De Bie who proved to have the fastest legs on the final climb up the Mur. 

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