Despite being a decorated athlete, Ramunas Navardauskas still hadn't won a stage race since turning pro when he lined up at the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe. After getting safely through today's final stage of the race, he has closed that gaping hole in his palmarés as he led home a Garmin-Sharp 1-2 in the overall standings.

Ramunas Navardauskas is only 26 years old but he has already achieved a lot in his short career. He has won a stage of the Giro d'Italia, worn the leader's jersey in the Italian grand tour, even completed his first two Tours de France and taken another WorldTour win in the Tour de Romandie.

Despite being a solid climber on smaller hills and a fine time trialist, however, Navarduaskas still hadn't won a stage race when he headed to France for this week's Circuit Cycliste Sarthe. By leading home a dominant Garmin-Sharp performance, he has finally added a multi-day event to his palmares after getting safely through today's final stage.

Navardauskas laid the foundations for his win by finishing third in the stage 3 TT and then he won yesterday's queen stage to take the overall lead. Today it was all about staying safe for him and his teammate Rohan Dennis who finished second on GC, and it was mission accomplished for the American team.

"It wasn't too complicated to keep the yellow jersey as we had quite a good gap from yesterday's stage and Rohan Dennis was in second place, also ready to take over if I had a problem," Navardauskas told Cyclingnews. "The whole team was motivated and ready to help. Thomas Dekker stayed all day long at the front of the peloton.

"I'm really proud of what my guys have done today. Thanks to them, I was able to ride with fresh legs till the end. During the last lap, I realized that I didn't feel the fatigue.

"Every victory can change a lot in every rider's career. For me, it's a big one as this is my first yellow jersey for a very long time and it's definitely my first win in a stage race as a pro."