Fedrigo wins final stage of Critérium International

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Pierrick Fedrigo (FDJ-BigMat) sprinted to the win on the mountaintop finish of the Criterium International finale, whilst Cadel Evans used a fourth-place finish to seal his overall victory. Second place went to Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R, with Sky's Lars-Petter Nordhaug third of the four-man group which went for the stage win.

Evans took the win by showing he could climb as well as time-trial, having taken over the lead Saturday in the race's test. He stayed at the front nearly the whole climb, putting his stamp on the stage, even if he was unwilling or unable to shake his competitors.

The loser of the day was Sky's Michael Rogers, who missed the jump to the lead group and dropped from second to fourth overall. Fedrigo moved into second place, with the time bonuses. Those same time bonuses lifted Nocentini to third and Nordhaug to fourth overall.

“Yesterday was a good indication and a nice confidence boost,” Evans said. “Sometimes things go well and it all comes together. Up until this point, I had trouble bringing things together. But I knew to keep working at it and things would come together. It's a good indication, but we have big races still to come.

“As a team we worked really well today,” Evans said. “Today, the young guys started out and I think for them it was an honor for them to ride in a part of France for the yellow jersey.”

A decisive mountaintop finish

George Bennet (RadioShack-Nissan), Nicolas Vogondy (Cofidis) and Matteo Montaguti (AG2R) had made up the day's breakaway, but were caught again, nearly at the foot of the day's final climb.

Euskaltel moved to the front on the closing climb, with Egoi Martinez doing a lot of the lead work apparently riding for Igor Anton.

The climb took its toll and the group shrank dramatically as it went up. Alexandre Geniez of Project 1t4i took off on a solo break, and he had a lead of up nearly 30 seconds, but the BMC-led group didn't let him get away.

Anton was the first to jump from the group, with Evans alertly on his wheel. Rogers jumped too and quickly passed not just them but also Geniez. There were only two km to go, but with only one second between leader Evans and second-ranked Rogers, Evans could take no chances.

He put himself in command, grinding his way to the front. Evans directly followed when Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R) took off.

Shortly after the one km marker, Fedrigo and Nordhaug worked their way up to them and the leader saw he had to do it alone. He took off on the slightly flatter section and kept his lead until the closing sprint.

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