Decathlon top talent Aubin Sparfel catches breakaway just in time to win Tour de l'Avenir stage 4

Aubin Sparfel won stage 4 of the Tour de l'Avenir on Sunday afternoon. The highly rated French Decathlon talent surged past the last remaining breakaway riders just in time after a thrilling finale, securing another major victory in what has already been an impressive season.

After Saturday's third stage had already ended in a sprint, Sunday appeared likely to produce more of the same. There was not a huge amount of climbing in the 151-kilometre stage, although the final 500 metres did rise gently towards the finish. One day earlier, UAE talent Davide Stella had proved to be the strongest in the sprint and claimed stage 3.

The attacks started almost immediately after the flag dropped, and before long a ten-rider group had escaped. They headed towards the day's only categorised climb, the fourth-category Côte de Saint-Léger-sous-Beuvray. French junior champion Timothée Coudière-Cantin was first over the summit and consequently moved into the lead of the mountains classification.

There was not much action for a while after that in what had become a relatively uneventful stage. Hungary's Bálint Feldhoffer won the intermediate sprint, but attention quickly turned towards the finish, where a bunch sprint appeared to be the most likely outcome. The peloton gradually began eating into the ten leaders' advantage.

But was the bunch closing the gap quickly enough? With 11 kilometres remaining, the breakaway still had a lead of just over one minute. With ten riders still able to contribute at the front, there was enough firepower left to set up an extremely tense finale. Suddenly, a sprint was far from guaranteed.

In the end, the peloton got there just in time, but it was a late move from Sparfel that ultimately decided the stage. The Decathlon rider powered clear and had the finish photo all to himself, putting daylight between himself and his rivals. Belgium's Niels Driesen, meanwhile, reclaimed the overall leader's jersey from Kasper Haugland.

Aubin Sparfel