Étoile de Bessèges 2021 – Stage 4 [LAST 10 KM] (french)

February 6, 2021

Étoile de Bessèges 2021 – Stage 4 – Rousson – Saint-Siffret Pays d’Uzès : 152 km

The five-day Étoile de Bessèges kicks off on Wednesday with what is arguably its strongest field ever, featuring no fewer than three Tour de France winners in Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal and Vincenzo Nibali, as well as Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet, who will be making his first racing appearance for his new AG2R-Citroën team. There are 11 WorldTeams among the 22 squads participating in the 51st edition of France’s traditional season-opening stage race. It’s the first edition of Bessèges to be organised since race founder and long-time director Roland Fangille died after contracting COVID-19 last November.

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) won stage 4 at the Étoile de Bèsseges on Saturday. The time trial world champion attacked his all-day breakaway companions in the final kilometres and soloed to victory in Saint Siffret.

Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) won the uphill bunch sprint for second place ahead of Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), while Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) retains the overall lead.

Ganna was one of the early breakaway riders that included Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Alexys Brunel (Groupama-FDJ), Ludovic Robeet (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles) and Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) and they were later joined by Niki Terpstra and Pierre Latour (Total Direct Energie), and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Nippo) on the local circuits.

Ganna made his winning move, just as the main field was about the close down the gap to the breakaway with 8km to go, using his powerful time trial strength to pull away from the chase group and the main field to take the stage win. The main field reeled in the rest of the breakaway riders on the sharp 1km climb to the finish line in Saint Siffret.

The top three in the overall classification stayed the same with Wellens retaining the orange leader’s jersey with 44 seconds on Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) and 46 seconds on Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel Start-up Nation).

Étoile de Bèsseges concludes on Sunday with an 11km time trial in Alès.

How it unfolded

The fourth stage of Étoile de Bèsseges offered a 152km race between Rousson and Saint Siffret with two categorised climbs; Côte Lussan (15km) and Côte de Cavillargues (43km) followed by three intermediate sprints whereby the first two passed through the finish line at 63km and 110km, and the third on the local lap at 131km. The stage then ended with a punchy 1km climb to the finish in Saint Siffret.

Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Alexys Brunel (Groupama-FDJ) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) have jumped away from the peloton over the Côte Lussan, and a small 15-second gap bloomed out to 2:15 with roughly 120km remaining. Ludovic Robeet (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles) and Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) attempted to bridge the gap and managed to make the connection ahead of the second ascent Côte de Cavillargues.

Back in the peloton, Lotto Soudal were in control but the breakaway was no threat to their overall race lead Tim Wellens.

They passed through Saint Siffert and cross the finish line for the first time with a reduced gap of 1:20 on the field. As the race progressed along the local circuits, B&B Hotels p/b KTM joined Lotto Soudal in the chase but the breakaway riders held their lead at around 1:40. At 50km to go, it was EF Education-Nippo, B&B Hotels, and Total Direct Energie that brought the gap down to under a minute, and further down to just 30 seconds inside the last 25km.

Niki Terpstra and Pierre Latour (Total Direct Energie), and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-Nippo) crossed the small gap and joined Perez, Brunel, Robeet, De Bondt and Ganna and helped in their last efforts to stay way to the finish line.

Lotto Soudal, Bora-Hansgrohe, Trek-Segafredo and AG2R Citroën took up at the reins at the head of the peloton, and cut the gap down to 15 seconds in the closing kilometres.

As the main field loomed behind, Ganna attacked the breakaway with 8km to go, showing that his powerful time trial strength was no match for the others. He padded out his lead to 20 seconds on the chasers and 40 seconds on the peloton inside the final 5km, then covered the last 2km almost effortlessly to secure the stage win.

Results :
1 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 3:22:59
2 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:17
3 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
5 Milan Menten (Bel) Bingoal WB
6 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
7 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
8 Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
9 August Jensen (Nor) Delko
10 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Israel Start-up Nation
11 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
12 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
13 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
14 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
15 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
16 Dylan Kowalski (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
17 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
18 Arjen Livyns (Bel) Bingoal WB
19 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers
20 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
21 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:25
22 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
23 Silvan Dillier (Swi) Alpecin-Fenix
24 Pierre Latour (Fra) Total Direct Energie
25 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
26 Clément Carisey (Fra) Delko
27 Michael Gogl (Aut) Team Qhubeka Assos
28 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko 0:00:33
29 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
30 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:00:35
31 Marti Marquez Roman (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
32 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
33 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
34 Francisco Galvan Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
35 Jonas Koch (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:39
36 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
37 Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
38 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
39 Marc Sarreau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
40 Alexandre Delettre (Fra) Delko 0:00:42
41 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
42 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
43 Romain Cardis (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
44 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education-Nippo
45 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
46 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
47 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:00:49
48 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team
49 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:00:53
50 Johan le Bon (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy
51 Vojtech Repa (Cze) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:00:56
52 Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
53 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Bingoal WB
54 Clément Russo (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic
55 Owain Doull (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
56 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Qhubeka Assos
57 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo
58 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
59 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
60 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko
61 Tobias Bayer (Aut) Alpecin-Fenix
62 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
63 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie
64 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal
65 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:06
66 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
67 Valentin Tabellion (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
68 Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
69 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic
70 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
71 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos
72 Sam Gaze (NZl) Alpecin-Fenix
73 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis
74 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
75 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:01:23
76 Joel Suter (Swi) Bingoal WB
77 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis
78 Senne Leysen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
79 Sean Bennett (USA) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:01:28
80 Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
81 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
82 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
83 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo
84 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Education-Nippo
85 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:35
86 Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe
87 Damien Touze (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
88 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
89 Frederik Wandahl (Den) Bora-Hansgrohe
90 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:44
91 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:47
92 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Cofidis 0:01:49
93 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis
94 Brent Van Moer (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:54
95 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
96 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
97 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:02:02
98 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal
99 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:13
100 Bram Welten (Ned) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:02:22
101 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
102 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
103 Louis Louvet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:02:39
104 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:58
105 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo
106 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
107 Morné Van Niekerk (RSA) St Michel-Auber 93 0:03:31
108 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:04:01
109 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Bingoal WB 0:04:25
110 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:04:26
111 Mattias Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:45
112 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
113 Maximilien Picoux (Bel) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:06:43
114 Jason Tesson (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:06:51
115 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
116 Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:32
117 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Total Direct Energie
118 Tom Paquot (Bel) Bingoal WB
119 Emiel Vermeulen (Bel) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
120 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
121 Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Delko
122 Tom Bohli (Swi) Cofidis
123 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
124 Patrick Gamper (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
125 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Total Direct Energie
126 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) EF Education-Nippo
127 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Delko
128 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
129 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
130 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie
131 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
132 Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
133 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-Nippo
134 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education-Nippo
135 Samy Aurignac (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy 0:15:34
136 Lars van den Berg (Ned) Groupama-FDJ 0:16:01

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 13:40:54
2 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:44
3 Mads Würtz Schmidt (Den) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:46
4 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:48
5 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:49
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 0:00:50
7 Jake Stewart (GBr) Groupama-FDJ
8 Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
9 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
10 Michael Gogl (Aut) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:00:58
11 Clément Carisey (Fra) Delko
12 Cyril Barthe (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:01:00
13 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal 0:01:29
14 Marti Marquez Roman (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:01:45
15 Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers 0:02:56
16 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis 0:03:08
17 Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:03:26
18 August Jensen (Nor) Delko
19 Roger Adria Oliveras (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
20 Dylan Kowalski (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
21 Arjen Livyns (Bel) Bingoal WB
22 Silvan Dillier (Swi) Alpecin-Fenix 0:03:34
23 Pierre Latour (Fra) Total Direct Energie
24 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
25 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
26 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:03:36
27 Ivan Centrone (Lux) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:03:42
28 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko
29 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:03:44
30 Quentin Pacher (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
31 Alexys Brunel (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:03:45
32 Oliver Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 0:03:48
33 Jonas Koch (Ger) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
34 Connor Swift (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic
35 Alexandre Delettre (Fra) Delko 0:03:50
36 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:51
37 Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
38 Romain Cardis (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
39 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education-Nippo
40 Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
41 Johan le Bon (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy 0:04:02
42 Anthony Turgis (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:04:05
43 Jenthe Biermans (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
44 Raul Garcia Pierna (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
45 Tobias Bayer (Aut) Alpecin-Fenix
46 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation
47 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
48 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko
49 Owain Doull (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
50 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:04:15
51 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic
52 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
53 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos
54 Sean Bennett (USA) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:04:37
55 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
56 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-Nippo
57 Damien Touze (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:04:44
58 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
59 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:56
60 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:58
61 Brent Van Moer (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:05:03
62 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
63 John Degenkolb (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:05:11
64 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal
65 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:05:24
66 Matis Louvel (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:05:42
67 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:03
68 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:05
69 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:07
70 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
71 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 0:06:21
72 William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:06:44
73 Clément Russo (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:10:56
74 Mattias Jensen (Den) Trek-Segafredo 0:10:57
75 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 0:11:01
76 Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Delko 0:11:41
77 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM
78 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Total Direct Energie
79 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:12:25
80 Pascal Ackermann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:13:22
81 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis 0:14:15
82 Francisco Galvan Fernandez (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:14:21
83 Joel Suter (Swi) Bingoal WB 0:14:32
84 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) Cofidis 0:14:58
85 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:15:40
86 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) EF Education-Nippo 0:17:10
87 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:20:51
88 Sam Gaze (NZl) Alpecin-Fenix
89 Milan Menten (Bel) Bingoal WB 0:20:55
90 Marc Sarreau (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:21:17
91 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Bingoal WB 0:21:24
92 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 0:21:27
93 Théo Delacroix (Fra) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:21:31
94 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) Team Qhubeka Assos 0:21:34
95 Ryan Mullen (Irl) Trek-Segafredo
96 Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:21:44
97 Valentin Tabellion (Fra) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
98 Senne Leysen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:22:01
99 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis
100 Jens Debusschere (Bel) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:22:06
101 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Education-Nippo
102 Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:22:13
103 Frederik Wandahl (Den) Bora-Hansgrohe
104 Alexis Renard (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation 0:22:49
105 Daniel McLay (GBr) Team Arkea-Samsic 0:22:51
106 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:23:00
107 Bram Welten (Ned) Team Arkea-Samsic
108 Louis Louvet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:23:17
109 Vojtech Repa (Cze) Equipo Kern Pharma 0:23:21
110 Kevin Reza (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:23:42
111 Morné Van Niekerk (RSA) St Michel-Auber 93 0:24:09
112 Tom Bohli (Swi) Cofidis 0:24:44
113 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Bingoal WB 0:24:58
114 Tom Devriendt (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:25:32
115 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis 0:25:56
116 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:26:23
117 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:27:26
118 Jason Tesson (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93 0:27:29
119 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:27:43
120 Pierre Barbier (Fra) Delko 0:29:04
121 Gerben Thijssen (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:29:10
122 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) EF Education-Nippo
123 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Start-up Nation
124 Emiel Vermeulen (Bel) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole
125 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos
126 Julius van den Berg (Ned) EF Education-Nippo
127 Tom Paquot (Bel) Bingoal WB
128 Adrien Petit (Fra) Total Direct Energie
129 Maximilien Picoux (Bel) Xelliss-Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:30:25
130 Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:30:29
131 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:31:01
132 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Total Direct Energie
133 Lars van den Berg (Ned) Groupama-FDJ 0:31:27
134 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) B&B Hotels p/b KTM 0:32:39
135 Patrick Gamper (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:34:26
136 Samy Aurignac (Fra) Cambodia Cycling Academy 0:36:12