In a very fast final stage in the south of France, Italian Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) overcame the odds to take a brilliant stage win in the sprint after being in two breakaway groups during the day. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) defended the coral-red leader’s jersey to take the overall victory.

Today’s 4th stage of the Route du Sud was certainly one to remember. The flat nature of the 149,2 km stage resulted in an average speed of 46 km/h, but nevertheless there were countless attacks. Overall leader leader Voeckler personally covered many dangerous moves, and only after 65 km did a group get a substantial gap. It consisted of 12 riders: Ángel Madrazo was the best-placed rider overall, 4:47 behind the Frenchman, so he was no threat.

The other 11 were Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale), David Lelay (Sojasun), Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela), Cyril Bessy (Cofidis), Gaël Malacarne (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Guillaume Faucon (BigMat-Auber 93), Julien Antomarchi (La Pomme Marseille), Salvatore Puccio (Sky Procycling), Sebastian Baldauf (NSP-Ghost) Nicolas Vogondy and Grégory Habeaux (both Accent Jobs-Wanty). They built a gap of 1:30, but then Caja Rural took up the chase – with 40 km to go the break was reeled in.

Soon after, a group of 10 took off: Javier Moreno (Movistar), Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Christophe Laborie (Sojasun), Florent Barle (Cofidis), Thomas Vaubourzeix (La Pomme Marseille), Christian Knees (Sky Procycling), Jurgen van Goolen (Accent Jobs-Wanty), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), René Hooghiemster (NSP-Ghost), Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale) and Marco Frapporti, who managed to get into this group again. Txurruka was only 1:31 behind overall, so the gap was controlled and never got above 30 seconds.

Three riders attacked from the front group with 10 km to go: Knees, Vaubourzeix and Frapporti. They had a 15-second advantage coming onto the last kilometre, the chasing group having been caught. The peloton caught the three with the finish in sight, but after all his efforts during the day, Frapporti amazingly still had a little left to sprint, and won ahead of Danilo Napolitano (Accent Jobs-Wanty) and Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille).

As there were no changes in the general classification, Thomas Voeckler wins the 2013 Route du Sud. And on top of Frapporti’s stage win, his teammate Emanuele Sella took enough points on the two classified climbs of the day to win the mountain jersey.

Stage 4 result:

1. Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) 3:14:35

2. Danilo Napolitano (Accent Jobs-Wanty)

3. Benjamin Giraud (La Pomme Marseille)

4. Adrien Petit (Cofidis)

5. Anthony Roux (FDJ)

6. Christian Knees (Sky Procycling)

7. Roy Jans (Accent Jobs-Wanty)

8. Francis Mourey (FDJ)

9. Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale)

10. Manuel Cardoso (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)

Final general classification:

1. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) 17:56:02

2. Franco Pellizotti (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) 0:04

3. John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) 0:06

4. Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) 0:09

5. Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) 0:20

6. Ruben Plaza (Movistar)

7. Hubert Dupont (AG2R La Mondiale)

8. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Sky Procycling) 0:26

9. Guillaume Levarlet (Cofidis) 0:28

10. Fabrice Jeandesboz (Sojasun)