Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) sealed overall victory at the Tour of the Alps as Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) took a solo victory on the final stage.
Attack proved the best form of defence for the Frenchman, who underlined his Giro d’Italia credentials with an aggressive display on the Innsbruck circuit that will be used in the World Championships later this year.
On the last of three ascents of the Olympia climb that forms the centrepiece of the circuit Pinot went clear with Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), the two riders directly below him on the overall standings. Once down the other side, however, the road flattened out and the impetus waned, allowing the small chase group, containing the other riders in the top 10, back into the picture.
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Padun, the 21-year-old Ukranian neo-pro, was in there and took advantage of his relatively low overall standing - 16th at 3:33 at the start of the day - to steal away from the group with four kilometres remaining. Arms folded over his bars, he dug in and finished the job, holding off a dangerous charge from Geroge Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) before punching the air in delight at his first professional victory.
Bennett crossed the line five seconds later to take second place on the stage, followed a second later by Jan Hirt (Astana), Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF) and Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data). Pinot crossed the line three seconds later, finishing on the same time as his direct rivals, Pozzovivo, Lopez, and Chris Froome (Team Sky).
Pinot therefore sealed the overall title by 15 seconds from Pozzovivo, with Lopez, who finished on the same time, rounding out the podium. Froome, who looked in trouble on the final climb as he was left behind even by his own teammate Kenny Elissonde, hung on to fourth place overall at 16 seconds.
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-the-alps-2018/stage-5/results
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