Van Avermaet victorious in Paris-Tours
By Cycling News
Belgian outsprints Marcato from breakaway, sprinters lose out
Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) outsprinted breakaway companion Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM) to win Paris-Tours on Sunday. Kasper Klostergaard of Saxo Bank-Sungard took third, as the expected mass sprint didn't materialise.
"I'm really good at sprinting after a long hard race and so is he ...but in the end I was stronger," Van Avermaet said. "I was happy he was working very well in the end. We decided to go full out to the finish and then see who was the fastest in the sprint.
"The team did a really good job and we tried to make the whole race really hard and control the race the whole day."
188 riders set out into the wind and rain on the day, with less than half of them making it to the end.
A group of seven riders five riders got away early and built up a lead of just over 11 minutes. However, the lead of Will Clarke (Leopard Trek), David Boucher (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet), Rubens Bertogliati (Team Type 1), Andreas Klier (Garmin Cervelo), Rony Martias (Saur Sojasun) and Jurgen Van Goolen (Veranda's Willems – Accent) came down under pressure from behind.
The sprinters' teams gave furious chase, with Rabobank for defending champion Oscar Freire and HTC-Highroad riding for World champion Mark Cavendish leading the way.However, none of the sprinters' teams was able to organise things enough to bring their speedy men up to the very front.
With about 70 km to go, the gap had shrunk enough that an additional 15 riders, including Van Avermaet, was able to bridge up to the group. The larger group's lead never reached the two minute mark, but it was enough.
Arnaud Gerard (FDJ) was the first to attack out of the breakaway, at about the 17km marker. Van Avermaet and Marcato gave chase, easily catching and dropping the Frenchman. Sylvain Chavanel and Philippe Gilbert tried desperately to bridge up from the peloton, but couldn't get away.
The two leaders took enough of a lead into the final kilometer to not worry about their chasers. Van Avermaet hung on to Marcato's rear wheel before taking off at the 300 meter mark to win.
Full Results
1 | Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 5:21:43 |
2 | Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:02 |
3 | Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard | 0:00:15 |
4 | Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky Procycling | |
5 | Laszlo Bodrogi (Fra) Team Type 1 - Sanofi Aventis | |
6 | Mickaël Delage (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:22 |
7 | Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Team RadioShack | |
8 | Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek | |
9 | Roy Curvers (Ned) Skil - Shimano | |
10 | Arnaud Gerard (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:26 |
11 | John Degenkolb (Ger) HTC-Highroad | 0:00:48 |
12 | Mathew Hayman (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
13 | David Boucher (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto | |
14 | Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
15 | Damien Gaudin (Fra) Team Europcar | |
16 | Vitaliy Buts (Ukr) Lampre - ISD | |
17 | Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Landbouwkrediet | |
18 | Rubens Bertogliati (Swi) Team Type 1 - Sanofi Aventis | 0:00:53 |
19 | Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team RadioShack | 0:01:23 |
20 | Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
21 | Adrien Petit (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | |
22 | Tom Veelers (Ned) Skil - Shimano | |
23 | Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team | |
24 | Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | |
25 | Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling | |
26 | Laurent Pichon (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller | |
27 | Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre - ISD | |
28 | Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
29 | Jelle Wallays (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | |
30 | Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
31 | Baden Cooke (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard | |
32 | Yuriy Krivtsov (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
33 | Jetse Bol (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
34 | Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
35 | Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quickstep Cycling Team | |
36 | Steven Van Vooren (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator | |
37 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Team Europcar | |
38 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | |
39 | Roger Kluge (Ger) Skil - Shimano | |
40 | Daniel Lloyd (GBr) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
41 | Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) FDJ | |
42 | Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad | |
43 | Yoann Offredo (Fra) FDJ | |
44 | Lars Ytting Bak (Den) HTC-Highroad | |
45 | Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
46 | Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | |
47 | Anthony Geslin (Fra) FDJ | |
48 | Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
49 | Zakkari Dempster (Aus) HTC-Highroad | |
50 | Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Sky Procycling | |
51 | Romain Lemarchand (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
52 | Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | |
53 | Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Sky Procycling | |
54 | Nikolas Maes (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team | |
55 | Jérémie Galland (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:01:31 |
56 | Björn Leukemans (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:01:34 |
57 | Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team | 0:01:36 |
58 | Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team | |
59 | Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
60 | Bram Tankink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
61 | Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) FDJ | |
62 | Maarten Wynants (Bel) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
63 | Andreas Klier (Ger) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
64 | Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | |
65 | Bert Jan Lindeman (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
66 | Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Skil - Shimano | 0:01:40 |
67 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto | 0:01:46 |
68 | Steven Caethoven (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent | 0:02:14 |
69 | Julien Fouchard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne | |
70 | Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | |
71 | Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent | 0:02:30 |
72 | Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Garmin-Cervelo | |
73 | Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
74 | Nicolas Rousseau (Fra) Big Mat-Auber 93) | |
75 | Martin Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad | |
76 | Rony Martias (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:02:47 |
77 | Jürgen Van Goolen (Bel) Veranda's Willems - Accent | |
78 | Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Team Europcar | 0:03:17 |
79 | Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Saur - Sojasun | 0:04:22 |
80 | André Steensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard | 0:07:25 |
81 | Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team | |
82 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team RadioShack | |
83 | Matthew Brammeier (Irl) HTC-Highroad | |
84 | Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team | |
85 | Coen Vermeltfoort (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team | 0:13:56 |
86 | William Clarke (Aus) Leopard Trek | |
87 | Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:15:11 |
88 | Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
89 | Juan José Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi |
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