Luke Valenti wins Tour de Beauce overall as Tyler Stites snares final stage

Luke Valenti (Team Ecoflo Chronos) has taken his first victory since stepping into the senior ranks on the road, with the 19-year-old from Ontario taking the top overall spot at the five-day Tour de Beauce in Canada while Tyler Stites (Project Echelon) swept up the final stage.

The win on the 122km stage 5, which delivered 12 laps of a hilly circuit starting and finishing in Saint Georges, was also enough to shift Stites into second place on the general classification. The 25 year old from the United States was part of a break of six that escaped on the stage which took on 12 laps of a hilly circuit starting and finishing in Saint Georges.

Stites took out the sprint from the lead group, finishing ahead of Laurent Gervais (Cannondale Echelon) and Matteo Dal-Cin (Toronto Hustle). With the break's lead propelling Stites – who also won the stage 4 criterium – up the overall from fifth place to second. 

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Valenti, however, wasn't going to let the overall victory slip away, jumping across from the peloton to the break to take fifth place on the stage, just seven seconds behind Stites, to win with a 47 second lead on the overall. Russell Evan, who had been in second place overall before the start of the stage with a deficit of just 18 seconds, slipped down to eighth overall after finishing in 15th, as part of the reduced peloton.

Carson Miles (Toronto Hustle) crossed the line in ninth on stage 5 to maintain his third place overall. Eric Inkster (Cycling BC) kept the polka dot jersey, Stites secured the points jersey while Valenti added the youth classification to his yellow overall jersey while Ecoflo Chronos also took out the team classification.

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