Aggressive Nicolas Roche digs in for great result in Tour of Alps | Video | Sticky Bottle

*Nicolas Roche sprints in for 2nd place on the final stage of the Tour of the Alps after a great finale during which he and Allesandro De Marchi held off the remains of the peloton*

Nicolas Roche has ended a strong ride in the Tour of the
Alps by going on the attack during the final stage and just about surviving out
front for 2^nd place, in what was a fantastic finale by him.

Felix Großschartner (Bora hansgrohe) had attacked the
breakaway Roche was in early on the last climb. And the German rode away from
his breakaway companions before descending down the final climb to a strong
solo win.

Behind the lone leader on the road, Roche (Team DSM) and
Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-up Nation) were the only other survivors
from the breakaway.

Großschartner (left) wins the final stage at the Tour of the Alps today while Simon Yates claimed the general classification title

The remains of the peloton were breathing down the duo’s neck, just four or five seconds behind them, for the last 5km. But somehow Roche and De Marchi held them off after a determined ride by the former BMC team mates.

Großschartner took a great win after the breakaway had initially split on the first passage of the Lago di Tenno, before he attacked solo on the second passage of the climb.

He won the stage 34 seconds up on the chasing duo, with Roche and De Marchi sprinting it out for 2^nd place and the Irish rider winning that battle.

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Just seven seconds after Roche crossed the line in 2^nd place and De Marchi finished 3^rd came the remains of the peloton. The sprint for 4^th from that group was won by Gianni Moscon (Ineos Grenadiers) from Alejandro Osorio Carvajal (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Roche’s team mate Romain Bardet.

Simon Yates (BikeExchange) was in that group and he
wrapped up the overall win. He had claimed the leader’s jersey on stage 2 with
an impressive solo ride and his team didn’t put a foot wrong in defence of his
lead over the last three days.

Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), who crashed yesterday
and slipped from 4^th to 14^th overall, went down fighting
today as he was in the breakaway with Roche earlier in the stage.

More to follow.