Irishman Nicholas Roche has won the Route Du Sud in France.
Roche snatched victory on the second stage and was in the leader's jersey for the final 179.4km stage from ST Gaudens to Castres.
Arashiro, Gutierrez, Coppel, Bideau, Di Gregorio, Lang, Madrazo and Quintero had a lead of 4.10 lwith 75kms to go but sixty kilometres later, Team Sky's Josh Edmondon and Adriano Malori of Movistar had joined Yukiya Arashiro of Europcar, who was the only rider remaining from the break.
Malori went away and took the stage win but Tinkoff Saxo's Nicholas Roche came in, safely within the peloton. to record his first ever stage race victory, after defending a forty five second lead.
The win sees Roche emulate his dad Stephen who won the race in 1985 and his cousin Dan Martin who won the race in 2008.
"It was a magnificent feeling crossing the finish line taking my very first GC win after three days of very hard racing. It was enjoyable experiencing my teammates so dedicated and determined to support me and of course, this is their victory as well. Surely, this was a confident booster before taking on Tour de France in a couple of weeks so obviously, I’m looking forward to it,” said Tinkoff-Saxo’s Nicolas Roche to his team's press office.