Filippo Ganna won the fifth and final stage of the Etoile de Besseges. Photo: Twitter @INEOSGrenadiers
Italian world time-trial champion Filippo Ganna won the fifth and final stage of the Etoile de Besseges.
Ganna (Ineos) started the 10.74km individual time-trial losing stage around the streets of Ales as the overwhelming favourite and duly delivered, stopping the clock in a time of 15:00:33.
Belgium’s Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) took the overall title, finishing 53 seconds ahead of Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos) while Germany’s Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished third a further six seconds adrift.
“Of course, I laid the foundations of my overall victory in stage three”, Wellens said.
“It felt nice to start this closing time trial with a lead of more than 40 seconds. I had really good legs today, something I already noticed this morning.
“The time-trial suited me. I managed to push more watts than I had initially planned. That is also why I was able to take the overall victory. Of course, it also helped that I already did a recon of the course beforehand. Already before the start of the Etoile de Besseges, we knew that the time trial would be decisive for the overall victory,” concluded Wellens.
Top eight finishers in the 2021 Etoile de Besseges race. Photo: Twitter @QhubekaAssos
Stage five
| 1 | Filippo Ganna | ITA | 15:00 |
| 2 | Benjamin Thomas | FRA | +0:10 |
| 3 | Ethan Hayter | GBR | +0:21 |
| 4 | Tim Wellens | BEL | +0:29 |
| 5 | Christophe Laporte | FRA | +0:31 |
| 6 | Michal Kwiatkowski | POL | +0:34 |
| 7 | Alberto Bettiol | ITA | +0:35 |
| 8 | Owain Doull | GBR | +0:38 |
| 9 | Nils Politt | GER | |
| 10 | Jake Stewart | GBR | +0:41 |
*Selected
| 118 | Morne van Niekerk | RSA | +02:25 |
General classification
| 1 | Tim Wellens | BEL | 13:56:23 |
| 2 | Michal Kwiatkowski | POL | +0:53 |
| 3 | Nils Politt | GER | +0:59 |
| 4 | Jake Stewart | GBR | +1:02 |
| 5 | Mads Schmidt | DEN | +1:19 |
| 6 | Michael Gogl | AUS | +1:24 |
| 7 | Greg van Avermaet | BEL | +1:25 |
| 8 | Edward Theuns | BEL | +1:36 |
| 9 | Clement Carisey | FRA | +1:41 |
| 10 | Christian Eiking | NOR | 1:45 |
*Selected
| 110 | Morne van Niekerk | RSA | +26:05 |
