Lilian Jegou won the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo race in Gabon as he finished 12th in the fifth and final stage.

The Francaise des Jeux rider, who has led on GC since being involved in a six-man breakaway on stage two, came home safely behind stage winner Jean-Luc Delpech of Bretagne Armor Lux.

The final stage was a brief 49.2km jaunt from Kango to Libreville with all 72 riders awarded the same time after a bunch sprint finish.

Jegou finished 17 seconds ahead of Yann Pivois - who was also involved in the Thursday escape - with double stage winner Martias third.

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Rony Martias of the Bouygues Telecom team won the fourth stage of the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Ondi but Lilian Jegou retained the leader's jersey after finishing second.

It was Frenchman Martias's second win of the Gabon race, following his stage victory on day one, and leaves him in third overall .

Jegou, riding for Francaise des Jeux, remains 17 seconds ahead of second-place Yann Pivois, also from France.

Martias trails Jegou by 2:06 going into Sunday's final stage.

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Lilian Jegou of Francaise des Jeux retained the lead of La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Ondimba in Gabon after stage three.

Jegou finished fourth, five seconds behind Maxime Vantomme, the Belgian winning the 100km third stage between Bongoville and Moanda in 2.31.39.

South Africa's Jay Robert Thomson was second and Boygues Telecom's Rony Martias, the winner of the opening stage and fourth overall, third.

Yann Pivois is second overall and South African Nicholas White third.

Saturday sees the penultimate, 149km stage between Lambarene and Kango.

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Stephane Bonsergent of Bretagne-Armor Lux won the second stage of the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Ondimba in Gabon.

He beat French compatriot Guillaume Levarlet of Francaise des Jeux to the line after a 121km trek from Mounana to Ngouoni.

They were part of a six-man breakaway that also featured another FdJ rider Lilian Jegou who takes the lead in the overall classification after finishing fifth, seven seconds back.

Bonsergent's team-mate Yann Pivois was fourth and is 11 seconds behind Jegou on GC.

Rony Martias, winner of the opening stage, led the peloton across the line in eighth 2:30 behind and drops to fourth in the overall standings.

The middle stage of the five-day race on Friday sees the riders go from Bongoville to Moanda.

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Rony Martias of Bouygues Telecom won the opening stage of the La Tropicale Amissa Bongo Ondimba in Gabon.

He beat South African Malcolm Lange (Microsoft) and team-mate Anthony Roux to the line after a sprint finish at the end of the 93.3 km stage from Akieni to Franceville.

It was a third pro victory for the 27-year-old Frenchman.

The five-day race, which features ProTour teams Bouygues Télécom and Francaise des Jeux, is the first 2.1 race of the year.

The riders face a 121km trek from Mounana to Ngouoni on Thursday.

Eurosport