Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) continued his love story with the legendary Mont Faron ascent in Toulon when he won the queen stage of the Tour Mediteraneen on its steep slopes for the second year in a row. Launching a fierce acceleration inside the final kilometres, he took a beautiful solo win while Stephen Cummings (BMC) finished 4th and limited his losses sufficiently to take his first big stage race win with a 5-second advantage over Peraud.

 

Jean-Christophe Peraud is a perennial top 10 contender in the biggest stage racer but the 36-year-old veteran is a rare winner. There is one place, however, that appears to be his: the steep 5.5km climb of Mont Faron on the outskirts of Toulon.

 

Every year the queen stage of the Tour Mediteraneen finishes on its slopes and every year Peraud seems to be one of the best. Today he did the climb for the third time and so far he has never finished outside the top 2.

 

After having been beaten into second by David Moncoutie in 2011 and winning the stage one year ago, Peraud again proved his class when he took another resounding victory on the climb that offers the first serious test of the peloton's climbing legs. The winning margin may not have been as big as last year but the result fully proves that the former mountain biker is not slowing down yet.

 

Peraud bridged across to lone leader Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne) inside the final 3km but appeared to have be on the backfoot when race leader Stephen Cummings (BMC) and Stefan Denifl (IAM) bridged across just before the flamme rouge. However, the Ag2r leader had enough left in the tank to launch another acceleration and this time no one had any response.

 

Having finished 4th in yesterday's time trial, he was just 15 seconds off Cummings' overall lead and he rode hard all the way to the finish before celebrating his second consecutive win on the climb. However, there was no overall win for the veteran as Cummings rolled across the line in 4th, just 11 seconds later. Sepulveda was 2nd and Denifl 3rd.

 

That was enough for the British BMC rider to secure his first big overall win in a stage race, just a week after finishing 2nd in the Dubai Tour. For the second year in a row, Peraud had to be content with 2nd, missing those precious 4 seconds in the end. Yesterday's runner-up in the time trial Riccardo Zoidl (Trek) finished 6th and took the final spot on the podium while Sepulveda finished just outside the top 3.

 

The French season continues next weekend with the two-stage Tour du Haut Var that will follow at the end of a big week of stage racing that also includes the Tour of Oman, the Volta ao Algarve and the Vuelta a Andalucia.

 

The queen stage

Nothing was decided until the very end of the 41st Tour Mediteraneen as the final stage was the traditional queen stage. During the 192.7km stage, the riders headed from the start in Bandol over rolling terrain with two small categorized climbs to the dramatic finish on the Mont Faron on the outskirts of Toulon. With an average gradient of 9%, the 5.5km climb is the traditional decider in the French stage race.

 

Probably wary of what was ahead, the peloton was happy to let the early break go clear right from the star. Mark Christian (Raleigh) and Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix) attacked almost from the gun while Omar Fraile (Caja Rural) and Tom Dernies (Wallonie) set off in pursuit. After a short chase, the two duos merged and they were given the green signal to build up a gap.

 

BMC start to chase

After 15km of racing, the gap was already 4.05 and this prompted the BMC team of race leader Stephen Cummings to initiate the chase. The American team stabilized the advantage before again slowing down a bit, allowing the gap to grow to 5.30.

 

At this point, Bardiani showed their intentions as the Italian started to contribute to the chase. With Francesco Manuel Bongiorno well-placed on GC, the team was hopeful that there young climber could shine while Stefano Pirazzi had also stated his intention to target the stage, despite suffering the effects from a crash in the Etoile de Besseges.

 

The gap remains stable

The two teams combined forces to stabilize the gap between the 5- and 6-minute marks, with the maximum of 6.00 being reached after 60km of racing. From there, they started to bring down the advantage while several riders punctured on the rough roads.

 

On the day's first climb, Fraile was first across the lined, followed by Kowalski and Dernies. At that point, the gap was 4.15 and Bardiani and BMC had everything under control.

 

Pineau and Roux briefly escape

Jerome Pineau (IAM) and Anthony Roux (FDJ) briefly escaped on the descent but appeared to have no interest in taking off. The duo was quickly back in the peloton while the gap now had stabilized between the 4- and 5-minute marks.

 

Having exited the feed zone, the peloton decided to up the pace, with Bardiani and BMC getting assistance from the Wanty team. Their rider Thomas Degand had been a surprise 10th in the time trial and was lookin for more on the Mont Faron while Kevin Seeldraeyers was looming in the background as another candidate for the Belgian team.

 

Christian suffers untimely puncture

With the gap down to 3.20, Dernies beat Christian and Fraile on the second climb of the day. As they sped down the descent, Christian had a very untimely puncture and the young Brit had to spend some energy to get back. At the intermediate sprint with 32.6km to go, Fraile was first ahead of Kowalski and Christian but their time seemed to come to an end as the gap had been reduced to just 2.25.

 

In the peloton, Georg Preidler (Giant-Shimano) had the rare experience to puncture on both wheels simultaneously but the peloton was still not going full gas and the Austrian climber had plenty of time to return to the main group. At this point, BMC took the unexpected decision to end their chase effort, leaving the work to Bardiani and Wanty.

 

BMC make a fierce acceleration

Bardiani also disappeared from the front and so Wanty now had the sole responsibility to lead the chase. With 20km to go, the gap had dropped to below 2 minutes, effectively dooming the breakaway.

 

Now BMC decided that it was time to ramp up the pace, with the American team launching a massive acceleration. In just 6km, they brought the gap down to just 14 seconds while the peloton was completely strung out behind them.

 

Kowalski attacks

While Colombia GC rider Carlos Julian Quintero suffered a puncture at the worst possible time, Kowalski attacked on his own. Fraile gave up immediately but a few moments later, only Kowalski was the sole remaining escapee.

 

With 11km to go, it was all over for the sole leader, meaning that the peloton was all together when they hit the bottom of the Mont Faron. The exciting action started right from the start as Mikael Cherel (Ag2r) and Mirko Selvaggi launched an attack.

 

More riders join Cherel

Selvaggi was unable to keep up with his companion who was joined from behind by a teammate, a BMC rider, a Trek rider and one from FDJ. More riders bridged across to make up a 15-rider group of favourites that included race leader Cummings.

 

Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne) launched an attack and managed to build a gap of 15 seconds. With 3km to go, he was still 12 seconds ahead and things were looking good for the talented Argentinean.

 

Peraud launches his attack

Jean-Christophe Peraud now launched an offensive in a quest to repeat last year's win on the climb. He quickly joined Sepulveda and as the duo neared the flamme rouge, they were 15 seconds ahead.

 

As they passed the 1km to go mark, Cummings and Stefan Denifl (IAM) closed the gap, setting up an exciting finale from the front quartet.

 

Sepulveda and Peraud again managed to open a small gap but Peraud still had something left in the tank. The Frenchman made a hard acceleration and managed to put 11 seconds into his chasers when he crossed the line to take his second consecutive win on the climb while Cummings rolled across the line in 4th to seal his overall win in the race.