Mads Pedersen wins Etoile de Bessèges as Kévin Vauquelin wins final time-trial - EF Education finish 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th

Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek is not only a sprinter and classics specialist. Throughout this week at the Etoile de Bessèges he also performed in the hilly days and in the final time-trial, enough to seal the overall victory as he defended himself against Kévin Vauquelin who won the final time-trial.

The Arkéa - B&B Hotels rider has proven himself as a terrific time-trialist and climber in the final day to Alés, putting in a stunning performance to conquer the stage win, putting the pressure on the rest of the competition as he looked to conquer the GC.

However it proved to not be enough, as Mads Pedersen put in a special ride to defend the race lead. The Dane lost only 10 seconds in the final day, and that was enough to win the GC. EF Education-EasyPost followed in the results sheet with five riders. Alberto Bettiol, Ben Healy, Sean Quinn, Simon Carr and Stefan Bissegger finished in the following positions, an interesting result for the American team.