Tour of the Med - st. 4

The young Spaniard, 4th at the summit in Les Gardes after a shortened stage which couldn't get to the Mont Faron, ends the Tour of the Med in 5th spot after bad weather all over the week

The worst forecast was eventually right and the Queen stage in the 39º Tour Méditerranéen could not get to the top of the Mont Faron, the usual decisive point of the race. The last day of the event had to get shortened again and was a 79k ride from La Ciotat to the exhilarating finish in Les Gardes (Cat. 2), the climb initially proposed as the prelude of the race’s showdown.

In the final slope, Ángel Madrazo showed again that his form leap last season was real and approached even more to his first pro victory. The young Spaniard came 4th across the line, fighting with the group of riders behind Brit Jon Tiernan-Locke (EDR), the first leader of the race who culminated his great week with a solo win en route to the final yellow jersey in the French race. The performance by Madrazo in today’s stage allowed him jump into the 5th spot overall, while Amador (10th), López, Quintana and Herrada were all of them within the favourites behind the lead four and also sticked to the first sheet of the leaderboard.

The Tour Med is over after weather forced to chancge almost every single route for the week, with Movistar Team searching for a stage win with Madrazo and also Fran Ventoso into the bunch sprints. Now, the telephone squad thinks of Algarve, Andalucía, Haut Var and Almería, their upcoming challenges for the remainder of February.