Image 1 of 26 Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) won the Tour Méditerranéen stage to Mont Faron for the second straight year (Image credit: AFP) Image 2 of 26 Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) on the podium after winning the final stage to Mont Faron (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 3 of 26 2014 Tour Méditerranéen champion Stephen Cummings (BMC) (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 4 of 26 Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia) won the mountains classification at Tour Méditerranéen (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 5 of 26 The Tour Méditerranéen victory by Stephen Cummings (BMC) was the first overall stage race win of his 10-year pro career (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 6 of 26 2014 Tour Méditerranéen champion Stephen Cummings (BMC) on the podium with legendary former pro Raymond Poulidor (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 7 of 26 Tour Méditerranéen winner Stephen Cummings with his BMC teammates following the final stage (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 8 of 26 Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale) played a key role in his teammate Jean-Christophe Peraud's stage win on Mont Faron (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 9 of 26 Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) placed 7th overall at Tour Méditerranéen (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 10 of 26 Mont Faron stage winner Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 11 of 26 Tour Méditerranéen leader Stephen Cummings (BMC) was calm and focused prior to the final stage (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 12 of 26 Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (BMC) is ready for the final stage at Tour Méditerranéen (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 13 of 26 Stephen Cummings (BMC) recovers after his fourth place stage finish on Mont Faron (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 14 of 26 Tour Méditerranéen leader Stephen Cummings (BMC) placed fourth on Mont Faron to win overall by four seconds (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 15 of 26 2014 Tour Méditerranéen champion Stephen Cummings (BMC) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 16 of 26 Stephen Cummings (BMC) climbs to a fourth place finish on the Mont Faron stage finale to seal overall victory at Tour Méditerranéen (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 17 of 26 Final jersey holders at the 2014 Tour Méditerranéen (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 18 of 26 2014 Tour Méditerranéen champion Stephen Cummings (BMC) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 19 of 26 The Tour Méditerranéen peloton rolls along early in the final stage (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 20 of 26 The Tour Méditerranéen peloton early in the final stage (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 21 of 26 The Tour Méditerranéen peloton lined up to start the final stage from Bandol to the mountain finish on Mont Faron (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 22 of 26 Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) soloed to victory on Mont Faron in the final stage of Tour Méditerranéen (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 23 of 26 Tour Méditerranéen leader Stephen Cummings (BMC) defended his yellow jersey on Mont Faron with a fourth place finish on the stage (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 24 of 26 Stephen Cummings (BMC) on the start line for the final stage at Tour Méditerranéen (Image credit: Sirotti) Image 25 of 26 Tour Méditerranéen leader Stephen Cummings (BMC) dug deep to finish fourth on the final stage and win overall. (Image credit: AFP) Image 26 of 26 2014 Tour Méditerranéen winner Stephen Cummings (BMC) on the podium with his trophy (Image credit: AFP)

Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale) won the final stage of the Tour Méditerranéen, featuring a mountain finish on Mont Faron, while overnight leader Stephen Cummings (BMC) successfully defended his yellow jersey on the 6km climb to the finish to seal the general classification victory.

For Peraud, it was the second straight year he won the Tour Méditerranéen stage atop Mont Faron and as was the case in 2013 he had to again settle for second overall on general classification. The 36-year-old Frenchman started today's final stage in fourth overall, 15 seconds down on Cummings, and despite dropping Cummings in the race finale the BMC rider, know for his time trialing prowess, bent but didn't break to finish fourth on the stage, 11 seconds behind Peraud.

"That’s a great collective win," said Peraud. "Instructions were followed and it paid off. I knew this stage would be physically demanding but I have been well supported by my teammates. Yauheni [Hutarovich] remained by my side to protect me throughout the day. Julien [Bérard] and Guillaume [Bonnafond] did a good job on the descent in order to place me in a good position inside the bunch. Then Mika [Cherel] and Matteo [Montaguti] worked well at the foot of the Mont Faron. And it was Carlos [Betancur] who helped me to attack on the middle of the climb and so to leave behind my competitors."

Cummings, who took over the leader's jersey the prior afternoon with a victory in the time trial stage, held on to win the general classification by four seconds over Peraud while WorldTour team rookie Riccardo Zoidl finished third overall in his first race for Trek Factory Racing, 10 seconds down on Cummings.

"It was so close, I went way over my limit," Cummings said. "I just did my best and luckily it was good enough."

All together for Mont Faron finale

A four-man break spent much of the final stage off the front, but the escape group comprised of Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix Lille Metropole), Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) and Tom Dernies (Wallonie-Bruxelles) was swept up 11km from the finish, setting the stage for the Mont Faron ascent to determine the final outcome of the four-day, five stage event as all of the overall favourites arrived together at the base of the climb.

Cummings started the day with a slender general classification lead of four seconds on Zoidl and 10 seconds on Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) while 14 riders in all were within one minute of the 32-year-old Briton overall.

Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Seche Environnement), fresh off of a sixth place GC finish in his home country's Tour de San Luis in January, would make the first decisive move on Mont Faron after a flurry of attacks were neutralised early on the ascent. The 22-year-old Argentinean jumped away solo and held a 17-second lead heading into the climb's final two kilometres. Sepulveda started the stage in fifth overall at 34 seconds and was now threatening to finish on the final overall podium.

At this point Peraud launched an attack of his own and the Frenchman was able to bridge the gap to Sepulveda entering the final kilometre. Peraud continued to push the pace and dropped Sepulveda, while Cummings was digging deep to defend his yellow jersey.

Peraud would win the stage solo with Sepulveda crossing the finish line five seconds down. Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling) placed third on the stage at 11 seconds accompanied by Cummings, who finished in the same time as the Austrian. Six seconds later Egor Silin (Katusha) outsprinted Riccardo Zoidl for fifth place as the Trek Factory Racing Austrian hung on to finish third overall.

Results 1 Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 4:57:53 2 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 0:00:05 3 Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling 0:00:11 4 Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team 5 Egor Silin (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:17 6 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) Trek Factory Racing 7 Thomas Degand (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:00:21 8 Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:00:24 9 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:29 10 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 11 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Polsat Polkowice 12 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Team Giant-Shimano 0:00:32 13 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:36 14 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:00:44 15 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:46 16 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:00:50 17 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) BigMat - Auber 93 18 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:55 19 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:00:59 20 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:01:02 21 Donato De Ieso (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:01:05 22 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano 23 Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 24 Bob Jungels (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 0:01:10 25 Yannick Eijssen (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:01:12 26 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 0:01:16 27 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:20 28 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Colombia 0:01:29 29 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) FDJ.fr 30 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ.fr 31 Peio Bilbao (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 0:01:32 32 Matthieu Boulo (Fra) Team Raleigh 33 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Shimano 0:01:36 34 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 0:01:38 35 Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 36 Francis De Greef (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:01:40 37 Romain Sicard (Fra) Team Europcar 0:01:56 38 Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 39 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 40 Grégoire Tarride (Fra) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 0:01:58 41 Matthew Busche (USA) Trek Factory Racing 42 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) FDJ.fr 43 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles 0:02:01 44 Romain Hardy (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 45 Dimitri Le Boulch (Fra) BigMat - Auber 93 46 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 47 Pavel Brutt (Rus) Team Katusha 0:02:17 48 Florian Guillou (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 49 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 0:02:19 50 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 0:02:22 51 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team 52 Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra) Team Europcar 0:02:34 53 Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Colombia 0:02:39 54 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek Factory Racing 55 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 0:02:42 56 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:02:47 57 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:02:53 58 Fabricio Ferrari Barcelo (Uru) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 0:02:54 59 Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling 0:03:07 60 Pierre Gouault (Fra) BigMat - Auber 93 0:03:12 61 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 62 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:19 63 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek Factory Racing 0:03:23 64 Christophe Premont (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles 0:03:25 65 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) IAM Cycling 0:03:33 66 Marcel Wyss (Swi) IAM Cycling 67 Gustav Larsson (Swe) IAM Cycling 68 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Colombia 69 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 70 Domingos André Maciel Gonçalves (Por) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 71 Tomasz Kiendys (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice 72 Yanto Barker (GBr) Team Raleigh 73 Michel Kreder (Ned) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 74 Jonathan Dufrasne (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles 0:03:39 75 Thomas Vaubourzeix (Fra) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 0:03:48 76 Yoann Paillot (Fra) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 0:03:49 77 Cyril Gautier (Fra) Team Europcar 0:04:04 78 Christophe Kern (Fra) Team Europcar 79 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 80 Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice 0:04:09 81 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:14 82 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:04:24 83 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team Katusha 0:04:33 84 Marco Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 85 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:04:42 86 Baptiste Plackaert (Bel) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:04:47 87 Romain Lemarchand (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:04:55 88 Darwin Ferney Pantoja Tobar (Col) Colombia 0:05:09 89 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Team Europcar 0:05:30 90 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Androni Giocattoli 0:05:34 91 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice 0:05:49 92 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) CCC Polsat Polkowice 0:05:51 93 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bardiani CSF 94 Alexander Rybakov (Rus) Team Katusha 95 Petr Ignatenko (Rus) Team Katusha 96 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Team Europcar 97 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia 0:06:08 98 Julien Stassen (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles 0:06:22 99 Quentin Bertholet (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles 0:06:29 100 Tom Dernies (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles 101 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:06:34 102 Evan Oliphant (GBr) Team Raleigh 0:06:36 103 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 104 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 105 Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 106 Steven Tronet (Fra) BigMat - Auber 93 107 Rudy Kowalski (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:06:42 108 Carlos Julian Quintero (Col) Colombia 0:06:43 109 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 0:06:55 110 Franck Vermeulen (Fra) Roubaix Lille Metropole 0:06:58 111 Jérôme Baugnies (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:07:39 112 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 113 Morgan Kneisky (Fra) Team Raleigh 114 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Team Giant-Shimano 0:08:03 115 Edoardo Zardini (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:08:10 116 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:24 117 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 0:09:18 118 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Shimano 119 Benjamin Giraud (Fra) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 120 Thomas Peterson (USA) Team Giant-Shimano 0:09:25 121 Jaroslaw Marycz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice 0:10:20 122 Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice 123 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) BMC Racing Team 124 Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team 125 George Atkins (GBr) Team Raleigh 126 Angelo Pagani (Ita) Bardiani CSF 127 Mark Christian (GBr) Team Raleigh 128 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 129 Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF 130 Maxime Anciaux (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles 131 Juan Pablo Valencia (Col) Colombia 132 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) IAM Cycling 133 Thierry Hupond (Fra) Team Giant-Shimano 134 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 135 Ian Wilkinson (GBr) Team Raleigh 136 Florian Vachon (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 137 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Bretagne - Seche Environnement 138 Omar Fraile Matarranza (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 139 Gert Joeaar (Est) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 140 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Team Katusha 141 Anton Vorobyev (Rus) Team Katusha 142 Marco Bandiera (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 143 Thor Hushovd (Nor) BMC Racing Team 144 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 145 Karol Domagalski (Pol) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 0:11:05 146 Fernando Grijalba (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA DNF Frédéric Brun (Fra) BigMat - Auber 93 DNF Flavien Dassonville (Fra) BigMat - Auber 93 DNF Alo Jakin (Est) BigMat - Auber 93 DNF Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Team La Pomme Marseille 13 DNF Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert DNS Théo Vimpere (Fra) BigMat - Auber 93 DNS Laurent Evrard (Bel) Wallonie - Bruxelles