Pinot seals Tour of the Alps title, Padun wins final stage

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) sealed overall victory at the Tour of the Alps as Bahrain-Merida’s Mark Padun took a solo victory on the final stage.

Attack proved the best form of defence for the Frenchman, who underlined his Giro d’Italia credentials with an aggressive display on the Innsbruck circuit that will be used in the World Championships later this year.

On the last of three ascents of the Olympia climb that forms the centrepiece of the circuit Pinot went clear with Bahrain-Merida’s Domenico Pozzovivo and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), the two riders directly below him on the overall standings. 

Once down the other side, however, the road flattened out and the impetus waned, allowing the small chase group, containing the other riders in the top 10, back into the picture.

Padun, the 21-year-old Ukranian neo-pro, was in there and took advantage of his relatively low overall standing - 16th at 3:33 at the start of the day - to steal away from the group with four kilometres remaining. Arms folded over his bars, he dug in and finished the job, holding off a dangerous charge from Geroge Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) before punching the air in delight at his first professional victory.

Bennett crossed the line five seconds later to take second place on the stage, followed a second later by Jan Hirt (Astana), Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF) and Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data). Pinot crossed the line three seconds later, finishing on the same time as his direct rivals, Pozzovivo, Lopez, and Chris Froome (Team Sky). 

Results

Stage five: Rattenberg to Innsbruck, 164.2km

1 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida, in 4 hrs 16 min 10 secs

2 George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 5s

3 Jan Hirt (Cze) Astana Pro Team, at 6s

4 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Bardiani CSF

5 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data, all same time

6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 9s

7 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team

8 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky

9 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, all same time

10 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky, at 11s

Final general classification

1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 14 hrs 12 min 29 secs

2 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 15s

3 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team

4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky, at 16s

5 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 1-00