Archie Ryan and his Jumbo Visma team have defended the yellow jersey on the final stage of Ronde de l'Isard today, with the Irish rider working to ensure his team mate was crowned the GC victor after the race split significantly.
Ryan went into the final stage today - some 153.6km from Laroque-d'Olmes to Saint-Girons - in the climbers' jersey after he won yesterday's summit finish at Goulier Neige. And while he was also well inside the top 10, the name of the game today was to keep his team mate Johannes Staune-Mittet in yellow.
The Norwegian rider claimed the opening stage last Wednesday from a large breakaway group that gained over 10 minutes on the peloton. That massive time gain by the escape group - on a wet and windy first day of action - effectively meant the battle for the final yellow jersey was between those who made that lead group.
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And when some of them fell by the wayside as the race hit the hillier stages in recent days, it meant Staune-Mittet and his Jumbo Visma team only had to mark a handful of riders closely today as the rest of the field was still over 10 minutes down.
That scenario - and the fact today's stage was very hilly in the middle section - saw a large number of riders going off the front while Ryan, Staune-Mittet and their team mates only marked the dangermen in the battle for the general classification.
More than 20 riders went up the road as the peloton behind them was whittled down to just 14 riders as the climbs took their toll. However, Jumbo Visma made sure none of those off the front was a threat in the general classification.
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Up ahead stage 4 winner Lenny Martinez (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ) proved the strongest climber of the attackers today as he pulled clear from the rest of the escapees with Mathys Rondel (VC Pays de Loudeac). Martinez beat Rondel at the finish to claim his second stage win of the race and also take the climbers' jersey from Ireland's Ryan.
A total of 20 riders - scattered over almost two minutes from 1st to 20th - finished ahead of the general classification group, which numbered just 14 riders and contained both Ryan and Staune-Mittet. In the end, that GC group was 3:21 down on Martinez. However, because none of the 20 riders up the road was a threat in the general classification, the stage result had a very limited impact on the final top 10.
Staune-Mittet ran out the overall winner by 1:46 from Reuben Thompson (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ) with Enzo Paleni (Equipe Continentale Groupama-FDJ) 3rd at 3:54. Ryan ended the race in 8th overall at 10:16.
As well as winning the GC and three stages, Jumbo Visma also won the team prize and the young rider classification, which went to overall winner Staune-Mittet.
