Having won the time trial, Tom Dumoulin found himself with a great chance to win the Criterium International but the climb of the Col de l'Ospedale proved to be a bit too much. Being up against pure climbers like Rafal Majka, Mathias Frank and Frank Schleck, the Dutchman had to admit defeat but he was pleased to have had the experience of leading a major race as he did it at last year's Eneco Tour.

On the final stage of Critérium International, Tom Dumoulin was unable to defend the overall race lead on the tough final ascent of the Col de l’Ospedale in Corsica.

Dumoulin took the lead in the race after winning yesterday’s individual time trial but it was always going to be a tough task to defend the lead on the final climb of the race, a 14km climb with an average gradient of 6.2%.

The race came back together with 60km to go just before the penultimate ascent of the day and despite some tentative attacks, a large front peloton hit the lower slopes of the final climb together.

Dumoulin was positioned well by his Team Giant-Shimano teammates at the bottom of the climb and he held strong until the final six kilometres where the road really started to get difficult, and those more suited to the difficult ascents put the pressure on.

The stage eventually went to Mathias Frank (IAM) who finished with Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R) who won the overall classification.

After the stage a disappointed Dumoulin said:

“I gave it my best today but at the end the other guys were climbing quicker than I could and that it that.

“It was great to wear the yellow jersey and to have the respect that you get from all the other riders. We had a young group of guys here and to win a stage and have the yellow jersey was still a good result and we can be proud of the way we rode.

“Personally I’m really happy to have got my first win and it will hopefully give me the extra confidence I need now to keep challenging for more wins over the course of the season.”

Team Giant-Shimano coach, Christian Guiberteau said:

“Tom did the best he could do today and gave it his all. He tried to follow for as long as possible but eventually lost ground towards the end and there is little you can do after that.

“Having the leader’s jersey is a great experience for both Tom and the young team we had here and they will have learned from it. Daan Olivier did a strong ride today in his second day back racing. He was there with Tom all the way to the bottom of the final climb and this is good for his confidence as he gets back into the ryhthm of racing.”