Mattias Skjelmose shows perfect climbing skills to win the Stage 5 of Étoile de Bessèges

Mattias Skjelmose Jansen was the first to arrive at the top of Le Mount Bouquet climb in stage 4 of Étoile de Bessèges. The Trek-Segafredo rider dueled with Neilson Powless on the last part of the climb Mont Bouquet and launched an explosive attack on the last meters that made him get the victory.

A group of around 15 riders went off the front of the peloton early in the day including the leader of the race Arnaud de Lie (Lotto-Dstny) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), and race favorites like Pavel Sivakov (INEOS-Grenadiers), Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo), Pierre Latour (Total Energies) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) was formed. The gap remained stable over a minute, and as the main favorites were in front, there was little that could be done in the peloton.

The front group started the final climb at the front much due to the work of Mads Pedersen. Neilson Powless did an earlier attack that made him gain some distance over Sivakov, Skjelmose, Latour and De Lie (who managed to climb very well). Skjelmose managed to catch the American at around 2 km to the finish after he made his own attack. 

The two rode together all the way into the finish as Pierre Latour stood out as the closest chaser. The stage ended in a sprint between the two with Mattias Skjelmose taking the win ahead of Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Pierre Latour (Total Energies) who finished close behind. Skjelmose is now as well the new leader of the race, leading the other two ahead of the decisive final time-trial.