Nacer Bouhanni was the big name sprinter in the Route du Sud and the winner of the points jersey in the Giro d'Italia was hoping to win the final sprint stage in an attempt to get selected for the Tour de France. However, Adriano Malori escaped in the finale and his team blamed Tinkoff-Saxo and Ag2r for having destroyed it for the sprinters.

Nacer Bouhanni finds himself in a hard battle to show the FDJ management that he has recovered from the Giro d'Italia and deserves a spot on the roster for the Tour de France alongside archrival Arnaud Demare. The Frenchman went into the Route du Sud with the hope of winning a stage to convince his team of his good condition.

Bouhanni got the race off to a great start when he finished third in the very hard first stage that finished with a gradual climb of more than 10km but his real goal was today's final sprint stage. Despite working hard day, however, his FDJ failed to keep things together as Adriano Malori made a late attack and managed to stay away.

A few seconds later Bouhanni could only manage third in the sprint and so had to settle for fourth on the stage but it was the Ag2r and Tinkoff-Saxo teams that were to blame for the failure, according to sports director Frederic Guesdon.

"With a break of eight riders, including Rémy Di Gregorio (La Pomme Marseille) who was jus two minutes behind, the situation was perfect for us, he said. "The Tinkoff-Saxo team of race leader Nicolas Roche had to take control and we lend them a hand, hoping that they would help us in the finale.

"40 kilometers from the finish, there was a big team effort from AG2R-La Mondiale that brought the escapees back too early but they refused to cooperate with us when Malori and Edmondson attacked and caught lone leader Arashiro. The gap to these three riders rose to 50 seconds and Tinkoff-Saxo did not help us.

"I'm frustrated because my riders should have won at least one stage. They were always present. Furthermore, Sioutsou (Team Sky) took bonus seconds today and moved ahead of Kenny [Elissonde] in the final classification so we have to settle for 7th. We really deserved better.