Cummings wins Tour Méditerranéen

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Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) won the final stage of the Tour Méditerranéen, featuring a mountain finish on Mont Faron, while overnight leader Stephen Cummings (BMC) successfully defended his yellow jersey on the 6km climb to the finish to seal the general classification victory.

For Peraud, it was the second straight year he won the Tour Méditerranéen stage atop Mont Faron and as was the case in 2013 he had to again settle for second overall on general classification. The 36-year-old Frenchman started today's final stage in fourth overall, 15 seconds down on Cummings, and despite dropping Cummings in the race finale the BMC rider, know for his time trialing prowess, bent but didn't break to finish fourth on the stage, 11 seconds behind Peraud.

"That’s a great collective win," said Peraud. "Instructions were followed and it paid off. I knew this stage would be physically demanding but I have been well supported by my teammates. Yauheni [Hutarovich] remained by my side to protect me throughout the day. Julien [Bérard] and Guillaume [Bonnafond] did a good job on the descent in order to place me in a good position inside the bunch. Then Mika [Cherel] and Matteo [Montaguti] worked well at the foot of the Mont Faron. And it was Carlos [Betancur] who helped me to attack on the middle of the climb and so to leave behind my competitors."

Cummings, who took over the leader's jersey the prior afternoon with a victory in the time trial stage, held on to win the general classification by four seconds over Peraud while WorldTour team rookie Riccardo Zoidl finished third overall in his first race for Trek Factory Racing, 10 seconds down on Cummings.

"It was so close, I went way over my limit," Cummings said. "I just did my best and luckily it was good enough."

All together for Mont Faron finale

A four-man break spent much of the final stage off the front, but the escape group comprised of Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix Lille Metropole), Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) and Tom Dernies (Wallonie-Bruxelles) was swept up 11km from the finish, setting the stage for the Mont Faron ascent to determine the final outcome of the four-day, five stage event as all of the overall favourites arrived together at the base of the climb.

Cummings started the day with a slender general classification lead of four seconds on Zoidl and 10 seconds on Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) while 14 riders in all were within one minute of the 32-year-old Briton overall.

Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Seche Environnement), fresh off of a sixth place GC finish in his home country's Tour de San Luis in January, would make the first decisive move on Mont Faron after a flurry of attacks were neutralised early on the ascent. The 22-year-old Argentinean jumped away solo and held a 17-second lead heading into the climb's final two kilometres. Sepulveda started the stage in fifth overall at 34 seconds and was now threatening to finish on the final overall podium.

At this point Peraud launched an attack of his own and the Frenchman was able to bridge the gap to Sepulveda entering the final kilometre. Peraud continued to push the pace and dropped Sepulveda, while Cummings was digging deep to defend his yellow jersey.

Peraud would win the stage solo with Sepulveda crossing the finish line five seconds down. Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling) placed third on the stage at 11 seconds accompanied by Cummings, who finished in the same time as the Austrian. Six seconds later Egor Silin (Katusha) outsprinted Riccardo Zoidl for fifth place as the Trek Factory Racing Austrian hung on to finish third overall.