Nothing went Team Colombia-Coldeportes’ way on Saturday February 7 in France in Etoile de Besseges stage 4 (L’Ardoise – Laudun, 147 km), with another crash affecting the race finale. A mass crash with 2 km to go took out of contention no less than three Escarabajos – Edwin Avila, Leonardo Duque and Brayan Ramirez – while the final sprint was won by Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) ahead of Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) and Edward Theuns (Topsport), who strengthened his GC lead.

The stage was characterized by a long 8-man break – Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar), Arnaud Gérard (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Kévin Van Melsen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Steven Tronet (Auber 93), Rudy Barbier (Roubaix-Lille Métropole), Xandro Meurisse (An Post-ChainReaction), Thomas Vaubourzeix (Veranclassic-Ekoï) and Gaëtan Pons (Wallonie-Bruxelles) – reeled in with four km to go. At 2000 metres to the finishing line, the big crash messed up everybody’s plans, favouring Gallopin’s chances to take a surprise win in Laudun. Walter Pedraza, 42nd, was the best Team Colombia-Coldeportes’ rider in today’s stage.

“Today was just a bad day, all the way," Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi told, "with the only “high” note being that all the three riders in the crash are ok. After Quintero’s forced withdrawal, today we really wanted to make a good result, but things simply went the other way.”

Tomorrow, Sunday, the stage race will come to a close with a 12 km time trial starting and finishing in Ales. It will be a much more intense day though for the team, that will be racing also in Italy, at GP Costa degli Etruschi, and at theColombian National Championships road race in the Antioquia department.