There couldn't be a more breathtaking way to start the final stage in the 48th Tour du Limousin on Friday as its third chapter - 185km from Saint-Dizier to Aigurande - saw an eight-man escape take the peloton almost to a knockout situation, with Rudy Molard (COF) claiming victory and reducing Jesús Herrada's advantage to a tantalizingly close one-second margin.

The work by José Luis Laguía's Movistar team, with Antón, Capecchi, Ion Izagirre, Rubén Fernández, Sanz, Quintana and Gadret with  full focus and commitment to look after their leader, combined with Bardiani's efforts to avoid the break going further away than five minutes. Still, the group of leaders was strong enough to start the final 20km with almost 2.30, and even enter the last 5k with 50 seconds. The final straight offered an amazing gallop from the bunch behind a tired break, which still kept four seconds that combined, in Molard's case, with a 10-second bonus for the win and 5" from preceeding intermediate sprints was enough to reduce a 20" gap overall to 1". The GC now has five riders within bonus' reach: Herrada, Molard, Vachon (BSE, +5"), Colbrelli (BAR, +7") and Pasqualon (RTH, +12").

"It was not necessarily easy to control such a large breakaway," Herrada told Directvelo. "We wanted to let others take responsibility. We did the forcing in the final, but it was still very hard to catch eight riders. I was not afraid of losing the jersey. I have not thought about the possibility of losing it. I was just focused on catching the escapees. It was a very hard day. 

"Tomorrow will be another difficult day, but we will try to take the final victory. I know the final circuit, I already did it before. I hope the rider from Cofidis (Rudy Molard) has sore legs. 

"Regarding bonuses, we will try to let a small group go to prevent our opponents from taking bonuses. If they can win the stage tomorrow, we will not be bothered. I will really be wary of Sonny Colbrelli, who is only seven seconds behind. " 

"It was sort of a carom game,'" said Laguía after the stage. "Should we finish with a bunch sprint, Colbrelli would probably have been the fastest, and should the breakaway reach its goal, with bonus seconds taken by Molard and Vachon among others, we also had some risks. I'm proud of the whole group, which did everything they could from the very start, all of them and especially Rubén Fernández, who sacrificed his own chances bydoing a final push that approached us to the final goal.

"There are many points where the race could be decided tomorrow, including the intermediate sprints and the final circuit - fast like any other, but also really hard. We're lucky that other teams will probably have to seek their chances and chase tomorrow, too, but the most important thing is having Jesús so strong - he's the main thing in our favour for tomorrow". 

The Tour du Limousin will come to a close tomorrow with 164.5km en route to a circuit in Limoges, full of small climbs.