Tour de Normandie Féminin: Kerbaol holds on for overall title at inaugural stage race

Shari Bossuyt (Canyon-SRAM Racing) won the bunch sprint on the third and final stage of the Tour de Normandie Féminin. She charged from peloton on the flat run-in to Caen with plenty of space behind to Martina Alzini (Cofidis) in second place and Roxane Fournier (St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93) in third.

Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling) sealed the GC victory with her finish in the peloton in the inaugural stage race, holding a one-second advantage over runner-up Gladys Verhulst (FDJ-SUEZ). With her podium finish on stage 3, Alzini jumped onto the final spot on the GC podium

"We had a plan and we executed it perfectly... It’s a super victory for the whole team, and the whole team worked so hard for it," Kerbaol said after taking the overall lead with the stage 2 victory on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Breton from the Cérétizit – WNT team came away with the pink leader’s jersey as well as the best young rider honours.

The third and final stage on Sunday between Saint PIerre en Auge and Caen covered 114.4km. The two intermediate sprints provided what could have been important bonus points in the first half of the race. Beyond the remaining 70km provided flat terrain across the Calvados department with no real opportunities for breakaways.

While the two classified climbs hit back-to-back, with less than 4km separating the summits, the peloton stretched out as a few riders tried to take advantage of the undulations. Canyon-SRAM’s Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka accelerated to the front of the race with Simone Boilard (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93). 

The duo scooped up the QOM points, and whatever advantage they had was soon swept away by a charging peloton which had them in sight with 23km to go to the finish line in Caen. 

Closing to 13.5km to go, more riders tried to break free from the peloton, but the WorldTour teams picked up the pace on the flat roads, setting up the bunch sprint.

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