Racing
Simon Carr wins stage four of La Route d’Occitanie
Georg Steinhauser secured third place overall and Marijn van den Berg rounded out the day’s podium on the final day of the French stage race
June 18, 2023
Simon Carr sprinted to his second victory of the season on the fourth and final stage of the Route d’Occitanie.
It was a very hard day at the French race. Simon joined the break soon after the start in Saint-Gaudens, and attacked on the 14-km Col de le Core. He and Groupama–FDJ’s Lars van den Berg, brother of Simon’s teammate Marijn van den Berg, held out over the Col de Latrape. The pair worked together all the way to the line and just held off the chasing peloton, which Marijn led in after a fast descent to round out the podium behind Simon and his brother.
“It was close, but we got there, and I just feel great,” Simon said after the stage. “We got a good gap at the start, but we weren’t sure if we were going to make it. It was very, very active out there. We had a good deal of strength in the break. I attacked and got away with Lars. He was super strong. I did think about attacking him, but in the end it came down to a sprint and it worked for me.”
Simon’s win caps a successful week for us at the southern French stage race. After Marijn van den Berg set the tone with a win on stage one, our German ace Georg Steinhauser climbed the GC ranks. Georg finished third overall and won the young rider’s jersey. And then Simon rounded out our efforts with this stylish win from the break.
The victory marks our 19th victory this season. We’ve won with ten different riders.