COL DE L’OSPEDALE, France — Jean-Christophe Peraud of France won the Criterium International on Sunday after finishing second behind Mathias Frank of Switzerland in the final stage of the race.
Frank outsprinted Peraud to complete in 4 hours, 43 minutes, 59 seconds the 176-kilometre trek from Porto-Vecchio to Col de l’Ospedale.
However, Peraud led Frank by one second in the standings. Tiago Machado of Portugal placed third both in the stage and the standings.
"The Criterium International was a bit more open this year with no (Chris) Froome and no (Alberto) Contador," Peraud told France 3 television. "So we took our chance. We had no hang-up."
Peraud benefited from some good work from his team, AG2R, which set a fast tempo on the Col de l’Ospedale.
Peraud, Frank, Eduardo Sepulveda, Frank Schleck, Rafal Majka, Alexis Vuillermoz and Tiago Machado pulled away five kilometres from the finish.
Frank attacked in the final kilometre but Peraud was able to finish in the same time to take the yellow jersey.
"I was counting the seconds in the finale," said Peraud, who finished third in the Paris-Nice race last year. "I was fine with letting some riders break away, but I knew that Mathias (Frank) was the only one that I couldn’t let go out if I wanted to win. It was very tough mentally."
Bryan Nauleau of France and Caleb Fairly of the United States escaped on the descent of Col de Bacinu. They had a lead that reached 45 seconds but were reeled in 13 kilometres from the finish.
Overnight leader Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands was dropped on the ascent of Col de l’Ospedale.