After a punchy day over the hills on the third day of racing, the final afternoon of action in France saw the peloton take on a slightly easier route, but a rolling and twisting circuit in the finale would certainly still present a challenge.
The team set out with the goal of sprinting with Frits Biesterbos as their fast finisher on the day, with the Dutchman having shown good recent form in Veenendaal. Throughout the afternoon, the squad looked after each other well, but an untimely puncture and bike change for Biesterbos inside the last five kilometres removed those chances.
Having used his wealth of experience to try and help Biesterbos before that, John Degenkolb then took over the lead as the team’s finisher, and stayed perfectly positioned in the front five or so around the twists and turns.
Coming into the final straight and the drag up to the line, Degenkolb dug deep and gave everything he had to take a nice third place on the day with the team.
