No back-to-back win for Latour in Boucles de la Mayenne as aggressive Frenchman beaten at the line by Gate

The penultimate stage of the Boucles de la Mayenne was undoubtedly the toughest of the race. The riders faced a grueling 210 kilometers over relentless rolling terrain. The main obstacle of the day was the Mont Rochard, a 1.4 km climb averaging 6.1 percent, which they tackled multiple times, with the final ascent coming just before the finish.

With more than seventy riders still within one minute on GC, the battle for the overall win was wide open. Gruel of Groupama FDJ, who had led the race since his prologue victory, knew he would be under serious pressure on this punchy stage as the competition was clearly out for blood.

Early on, a break of five riders formed, with seasoned Italian Alessandro De Marchi of Jayco AlUla the standout name. The peloton was content with the situation and kept the gap between two and three minutes.

That status quo held until about sixty kilometers from the line. On the slopes of Mont Rochard, Arthur Kluckers of Tudor launched a move. The Luxembourger, just six seconds off the lead, was joined by Frenchman Pierre Thierry of Arkéa B&B Hotels. The pair pressed on and built a forty-second gap over the peloton.

Their lead even grew to a full minute before stalling. Groupama FDJ, riding in support of Gruel, took firm control of the chase. With forty kilometers to go, Kluckers and Thierry were reeled back in. On the challenging local circuit, the peloton was whittled down to around forty riders heading into the final run.

Up front, De Marchi, Baptiste Veirstroffer, and Andreas Stokbro were holding strong, but the pressure from behind kept mounting. Attacks came thick and fast, and eventually it was Latour who managed to break clear. The Frenchman bridged to the leaders and then quickly left them behind.

With five kilometers to go, Latour’s lead was down to just ten seconds over the reduced peloton. Could he pull off a second consecutive victory? The answer was no. Aaron Gate of XDS Astana closed the gap and outsprinted Latour at the line. Just behind, Milan Menten of Lotto won the sprint from the chasing group to take third. Gate also moved into the overall lead, with Latour now sitting second on the same time.