Luka Mezgec sprinted to third in the reduced bunch sprint on stage 4 of the Dauphine, as Nacer Bouhanni took his second stage win after an exciting finale.

With 228km it was the longest stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, as the peloton moved from Anneyron to Sisteron. After 3km the early breakaway of two left the bunch to seek the adventure in the front.

With 20km to go the gap was still 3’ and they started to believe in the win. From that point the sprinters teams BMC Racing Team, Cofidis Solutions Crédits, and MTN – Qhubeka started to chase hard, as the bunch headed to Sisteron at full speed.

On the final ascent, with 12km to go, a lot of attacks took place, which resulted in an exciting phase of the race. Also Lawson Craddock was among the attacking riders but they didn’t succeed, as the stage ended in a sprint.

Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) won the stage, being the fastest for the second time this week. Mezgec sprinted to a nice third place, as Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) keeps his yellow jersey.

About his day Mezgec said: “My teammates did an awesome job bringing me to the front before the final climb, where the bunch split and I was in a comfortable position to prepare for the sprint. The last 2km were very hectic because none of the teams kept the pace up.

“I had a good position all the time but lost it at 400m. As a result, I started sprinting a little later compared to the others, but I managed to come in third after a strong final 200m.”

Coach Dirk Reuling added: “The plan was to start the final category 4 climb in the front with Luka, as the team did a great job there. In the final kilometer Luka was boxed in, although he managed to take a third place place after an impressively strong sprint.”