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Caisse d'Epargne's Luis Leon Sanchez won the Tour of the Mediterranean as David Moncoutie claimed the final stage at the summit of Mont Faron.

Cofidis rider Moncoutie was too strong for the Barloworld pair of Mauricio Soler and Britain's Chris Froome at the end of the 165km stage from Nice.

Soler started his attack at the beginning of the climb but with 500m to go, Moncoutie joined Soler and the sprint favoured the French rider.

Sanchez finished 24 seconds ahead of Finland's Jussi Veikkanen on GC after the Francaise des Jeux claimed a fourth place finish on the stage.

STAGE FIVE

Yauheni Hutarovich of Belarus notched his second sprint victory at the Tour of the Mediterranean in Marseille.

The Francaise des Jeux speedster held off Friday's fourth stage winner Robert Hunter of Barloworld at the end of the 167km stage from Brignoles.

Italian Guiseppe Palombo finished third with Caisse d'Epargne's Luis Leon Sanchez retaining a 13 second lead on GC going into Sunday's final stage over 165km which finishes at the summit of Mont Faron.

STAGE FOUR

Team Barloworld's Robert Hunter won the fourth stage of the Tour of the Mediterranean after a long seven-man escape.

The 135km stage between Greasque and Bouc Bel Air featured several attacks early in the morning and the first notable break of the day accurred at 20km, led by Barloworld pair Hunter and Felix Cardenas along with 12 other riders.

With around 30km to go the escape broke into two groups because of the strong wind, but Hunter managed to stay in the front of the race.

The South African dominated the final sprint and achieved an impressive victory with a confortable margin over Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) and Jussi Veikkanen (Francais des Jeux).

"I'm so proud of Robert and Felix," Barloworld director Alberto Volpi said. "They are the oldest riders in the team, but they have a great experience.

"It was not easy at all to take the win today, because of the wind and the fearsome competitors, but we got it.

"I guess at the moment we have shown we are one of the best teams and tomorrow we will have another chance to show out good form."

STAGE 3

Kevin Ista won stage three of the 36th Tour of the Mediterranean in Istres.

The Belgian, riding for Agritubel, beat Frenchman Jimmy Engoulvent (Besson Chaussures) and Ivan Luis Guttierrez (Caisse d'Epargne), who took the yellow jersey.

"I felt capable of winning as soon as we hit the last 150 metres," Ista said afterwards.

"My goal is to be in top form for the next test in Belgiam, the Het Nieuewsblad race between Gand and Les Ardennes," he added.

Spaniard Sanchez took the overall lead from team-mate and compatriot Luis Sanchez.

STAGE 1& 2 ROUND-UP

Sanchez was only 13th on the 100km first stage between Beziers and Narbonne, won by Frenchman Yauheni Hutarovich of Francaise des Jeux in 2:08.47 with compatriot Jimmy Casper second and South African Robert Hunter third, slightly behind the winner's time.

But in the afternoon the riders competed in a team time trial between Narbonne and Gruissan, with Gutierrez leading home Caisse d'Epargne on the 25km stage to let Sanchez take the lead.

Eurosport