Ben Swift finishes second to Louis Meintjes at Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali

Team Sky’s Ben Swift agonisingly missed out on overall victory at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy after being overhauled by South Africa’s Louis Meintjes on the final stage.

Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka) had trailed leader Swift by 1min 20sec at the start of the day but broke clear of the Briton on the penultimate climb and went on to win the stage.

Swift followed 1min 12sec later in fourth, but because Meintjes picked up bonus seconds for his win, the MTN-Qhubeka rider snatched overall victory by two seconds.

Swift told teamsky.com afterwards: "To lose the race by two seconds is gutting but I was so tired I couldn’t even get out of my saddle at the end. I keep thinking, ‘What if?’, but know I couldn’t have given any more.

“I’ve got to look at the positives. Finishing second after such a mountainous week of racing is pleasing, and it was just unfortunate I got rolled on the line for third as that would have given me the bonus seconds I needed to win."

Stage four result

1 Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka, 3:54:24
2 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini, +1:12
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice, same time
4 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, st
5 Matija Kvasina (Cro) Felbermayr-Simplon Wels, +1:15

General classification

1 Louis Meintjes (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka, 14:31:42
2 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, +2secs
3 Matija Kvasina (Cro) Felbermayr-Simplon Wels, +46
4 Francesco Bongiorno (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, +1:01
5 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice, +2:31