Coppi e Bartali: Calmejane nabs stage 4 and claims overall victory

Image 1 of 10

Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) won Sunday's final stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, and with it, claimed the overall race title, displacing Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac) from the top of the GC leaderboard.

The Frenchman initially took the leader's jersey after the team time trial on stage 1b, and then ceded it to Skujins after the Latvian nabbed stage 2. Calmejane battled back on stage 4, however, making his way into a select group and sprinting to victory ahead of Rodolfo Torres (Androni Giocattoli) and Florian Vachon (Fortuneo - Vital Concept) in Sassuolo after 160km.

Skujins rolled home 22 seconds later, relinquishing control of the race lead, ultimately finishing as GC runner-up 16 seconds down on Calmejane. Caja Rural's Jaime Roson rounded out the podium in third overall.

"The way the team rode all day, they were giving it their all.We were all tired. It was hard for everyone. The riders and the staff gave 100 percent every day in Italy. I'm disappointed personally, but I'm also disappointed I couldn't do it for them," Skujins said.

"If someone had said at the beginning that I could take a spot on the podium – second or third – I would have said: 'Yes, I'll take it.' but when you're so close to victory those lesser places are quiet sour. I need a couple days to process this one."

Results