Michael Woods wins queen stage of La Route d’Occitanie

Reigning champion Michael Woods took the UCI 2.1-rated Route d’Occitanie’s queen stage in France on Saturday and is poised to earn his second consecutive title. Woods jumped up from eighth on GC into the race lead and has a 10-second gap going into Sunday’s final stage. On Tuesday the Canadian was runner-up in his first race since April.

The Course

The third stage contained a Cat. 3 and two Cat. 1 climbs, the final one, Nistos Cap Neste, was 13.2 km of 7.1 percent.

After Corbin Strong’s impressive second place yesterday, it’s now time for the queen stage of the race with a hard mountain top finish on Nistos Cap Nestès.

⏰ 10:15
?️ 189 km
? 13:44 on @GcnRacing
? 15:15
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?? #RDO2023 pic.twitter.com/zA3uWWZg31

— Israel – Premier Tech (@IsraelPremTech) June 17, 2023

Woods was part of a high-powered group that attacked the final climb. The Canadian kept making moves and finally got loose with Arkea-Samsic’s Christian Rodriguez. Ruben Guerreiro (Portugal/Movistar) was the closest pursuer, and Woods’ teammate Domenico Pozzovivo, who had done a lot of work for Rusty, sat on in Group 3.

Woods and Rodriquez weren’t in accord in the lead and despite the Spaniard’s efforts to shake the Canadian, the duo went under the red kite together, Guerreiro almost able to latch on. Woods dashed away with 200 metres to go and took the victory.

Sunday’s conclusion holds two categorized climbs, the final one cresting 37 km from the line.

2023 La Route d’Occitanie Stage 3
1) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Premier-Tech) 5:02:14
2) Christian Rodriquez (Spain/Arkea-Samsic) +0:02
3) Jesus Herrada (Spain/Cofidis) +0:13

2023 La Route d’Occitanie GC
1) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel Premier-Tech) 14:05:10
2) Christian Rodriquez (Spain/Arkea-Samsic) +0:09
3) Georg Steinhauser (Germany/EF Education-Easypost) +0:40