Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) missed out on overall victory at the Tour of the Alps but ended his race on a high with an impressive performance on the final stage and his first ever sprint win as a professional. The ever-aggressive Frenchman tried to crack Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) on the steepest section of the Monte Bondone climb, but when Thomas controlled every attack, Pinot switch focus and targeted the sprint finish in the historic centre of Trento. After losing to Matteo Montaguti in the sprint in Cles on Thursday, Pinot made sure he was at the front and lead through the decisive final corner, accelerating to the line ahead of BMC`s Brent Bookwalter and Thomas.ADVERTISEMENT Victory topped off a consistent week of results. Pinot finished third, second, fifth, second and finally first on the five stages. His only mistake was sitting too far back in the select group that formed on the climb to the finish on stage 3 after making his own attack. When Thomas surged across to Mikel Landa and Domenico Pozzovivo, Pinot had to make an extra effort to close the gap and failed to make it onto Thomasī wheel. The Welshman managed to open a 13-seconds gap, setting up overall victory. `I wanted a stage at the Tour of the Alps, Iīve battled hard to get it and finally succeeded. Itīs an important win for me,``Pinot acknowledged.
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