Michael Woods wins second consecutive overall title at La Route d'Occitanie

Simon Carr (EF Education-Easypost) won the final stage 4 at La Route d'Occitanie, out-pacing breakaway companion Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ) at the finish line in Saint-Girons.

The pair were part of a large breakaway that formed early in the race, but they broke away over the main ascent of the Col de le Core and succeeded all the way to the finish line, holding a slim two-second margin on the chase group that included overall leader Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech).

Woods secured the victory at the four-day race, for the second year in a row, after winning the previous stage 3 and maintaining his lead through the final day of racing. He won the race by nine seconds over Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa Samsic) and 40 seconds over Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost).

"It's really special to win this race overall for a second time. This is an area I really like, not far from my home in Andorra, and to have my family and kids there to watch me win on Father's Day was something really special," Woods said.

"Stevie [Williams] was super impressive, climbing with the best climbers in the race, managing everything so well. I'm really proud about how he raced. The whole team did so well again today. It was just a shame that we couldn't catch the break and have Corbin [Strong] sprint for the win. In any case, I'm really happy with this race. My form is good, and I'm super excited for the Tour now. I'm ready to go!"

How it unfolded

The final stage 4 at the La Route d'Occitanie was a 164.7km race from Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Girons. Not an easy end to the four-day race, the peloton tackled two main ascents; Col de le Core (14km at 5.9%) and Col de Latrape (5.9km at 7.2%) before 30km of gentle descending into the run-in to Saint-Girons.

A series of attacks split the front of the peloton in the opening kilometres until a large leading group emerged. Although it started out with 15 riders, three managed to break away with Francois Bidard (Cofidis), Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ) and Paul Lapeira (AG2R-Citroën).

The gap was still slim,  however, and the lead group reshuffled until there were 12 riders who solidified their gap.

Omer Goldstein (Israel Premier Tech), Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic), Dries van Gestel (TotalEnergies), Simon Carr (EF Education-Easypost), Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-Easypost), Rudy Molard, Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ), Bastien Tronchon (AG2R Citroën), Nicolas Debeaumarche, Joris Delbove (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93) and Maxime Jarnet (Van Rysel-Roubaix Lille Metropole).

The riders gained more than four minutes on the peloton, but the highest-placed riders – Van den Berg and Molard – sat at 4:56 and 5:46, respectively. Overall leader Michael Woods and his Israel Premier Tech team help the group at a manageable distance.

The race hit the day's long ascent over the Col de le Core with the breakaway three minutes ahead of the field. Van den Berg and Molard set a quick pace on the climb, but behind Movistar and Israel Premier Tech controlled the speeds from the 40-rider main peloton reducing the gap to under two minutes.

Several riders attacked Woods on the climb, including Ivan Sosa and Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar), but Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) helped keep the front selection together with Woods safely among the mix of about 20 riders.

Upfront, Carr attacked the breakaway with Van den Berg was the only rider able to follow the move, and the pair maintained a gap of 1:40 over the second and final climb, Col de Latrape.

Although there were several attacks in the 15-rider selection behind, Woods' team managed to hold it together, all but solidifying his overall race lead on the descent into the finish line.

Meanwhile, up ahead, the two breakaway riders held onto a slim two seconds as Carr crossed the line to take the stage win ahead of Van den Berg.

Results

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