Blausasc (France) (AFP)

The 53rd Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var cycliste ended on Sunday with the triumph for the general of the Italian Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), who was offered solo in Blausasc (Alpes-Maritimes) the 3rd and last short stage (134.7 km), mountainous and eventful.

But unlike the two previous days, the Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), in recovery, followed the final explanation from far away.

“Yes, it was a bit tough today,” said the Franche-Comté climber (50th) who crossed the line more than twelve minutes behind Brambilla.

Plagued with latent back problems, he also implied that the pain had woken up.

"It's not great," he replied, pouting.

"I came here to get some answers. I have some. I don't know if it's worrying. We'll talk about it quietly, not like that. But today, it wasn't very good."

Friday in Gourdon (Alpes-Maritimes) then Saturday in Fayence (Var), Pinot had finished in the group of favorites.

He was still in the race for the overall victory on Sunday morning.

Without Pinot, the Groupama-FDJ blasted the race up front, placing three of its riders in a 12-man long-distance breakaway.

Bruno Armirail is responsible for leading it as far as possible to promote the designs of Rudy Molard and Valentin Madouas, who still had ambitions in the overall standings, and David Gaudu is responsible for monitoring the other favorites in the peloton.

But the strategy failed when Brambilla attacked three kilometers from the top of the Col de la Madone de Gorbio, which was 24 kilometers from the goal.

Madouas followed him well, but the fact that he collaborated with the Italian before being let go provoked Gaudu's wrath at the finish.

"The strongest won", played down Molard.

"Tactically, we may have been fooled. It's a bit silly but it's still good. We are not going to stay angry," Gaudu tempered as he came down from the podium.

Brambilla crossed the line thirteen seconds before the Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers, 2nd), the Australian Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), Rudy Molard and Valentin Madouas, all from the breakaway.

Five seconds later, the Michael Woods mimosa jersey group, which numbered just five units, arrived.

Overall, Brambilla wins ahead of the two other stage winners of this 53rd edition: the Canadian Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) is second at 5 seconds and the Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) is third at 6 seconds.

Groupama-FDJ leaves the heights of Monaco with a group fire (Molard 4th, Gaudu 6th, Madouas 7th) and questions on Pinot's state of health (35th).

© 2021 AFP