Thor Hushovd found himself in the perfect position to take a final big victory when he had made it to the top of the final climb with the 15 best riders in the final stage of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes. Unfortunately, a crash in the final turn prevented him from chasing a final big victory.

BMC Racing Team's Stephen Cummings finished fourth overall Friday at the Tour du Poitou Charentes while teammate Thor Hushovd saw his hopes for victory on the final stage dashed when he crashed in the final corner.  Hushovd was riding in a small group just ahead of the peloton and leading into the final turn when he went down – 250 meters from the finish of the 191.9-kilometer race.

"It is a pity he crashed," BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois said. "Thor told me he was strong and had good legs. I am sure he would have won this stage without the crash."

Instead, Jesus Herrada (Movistar Team) took the stage win ahead of Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF). Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) captured the overall title by 47 seconds over Svein Tuft (ORICA-GreenEDGE) and 61 seconds ahead of Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis Solutions Crédits).

Cummings' fourth-place overall – 76 seconds back of Chavanel – came on the strength of his fourth-place finish in Thursday's individual time trial. It marked the fourth time this season that the Tour Méditerranéen winner had finished in the top five in a time trial. He was runner-up in the Dubai Tour Stage 1 time trial – to teammate Taylor Phinney – won the Stage 4 time trial at  Tour Méditerranéen and was third in the Stage 7 time trial at Tour de Pologne.

"It would have been nice to have won, but I was feeling a bit tired after doing quite a lot of races this year," Cummings said. "But I think I have been consistent all year."