Paris-Tours: Christophe Laporte gets better of Mathias Vacek in two-up sprint at mud-soaked classic

Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) won a cagey two-up sprint at the close of a wet, mud-soaked 118th edition of Paris-Tours.

The Frenchman beat breakaway companion Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) on the Avenue de Grammont, while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was best of a reduced bunch of sprinters, who failed to reel in the leading duo in the closing stages.

Laporte and Vacek piggybacked onto the day’s original breakaway with 33km left to race, outlasting teammates Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) to contest the finish 21 seconds of the peloton.

“I’m really happy to win Paris-Tours, I haven’t won since those European Championships [in 2023],” Laporte said at the finish. “I was happy with the Olympics [where he won bronze in the road race], felt good today, and I wanted to get something out of the end of my season and finish strongly. 

“I was playing off the tactics of Lidl-Trek, then having Vacek with me, he’s obviously in very good shape and I knew I’d have to play tactics with him and try to finish as best as possible. Once I knew we were going to have the sprint I was waiting until the last moment. The season has finished on a good note. With all the gravel tracks and the corners, it was pretty dangerous, it calmed down [after the first sector] as there were fewer riders, and in the end, it was a fantastic finish.”

How it unfolded

After a flurry of attacks in the opening kilometres, a four-man breakaway escaped, consisting of European time trial champion Affini, Mikel Retegi (Kern Pharma), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB) and Enzo Boulet (CIC-U-Nantes Atlantique). 

Several riders crashed in the dismally wet conditions and Desal’s stint in the breakaway was brought to an end by one such fall, while the other three forged on. Their advantage swelled to as much as five minutes but was shaved down as the riders approached the ten gravel sectors - vineyard paths - in the final 70km. 

Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) attacked as the first chemin de vigne approached, briefly followed by Pascal Ackermann (Israel-PremierTech), and went solo as he hit the first of the supposed ‘white roads’ at Limeray – more of a slick, muddy brown in the inhospitable weather. 

The Dane caught the breakaway with 56km to race and immediately swung onto the front, but his efforts were stymied by his new companions’ refusal to cooperate. Boulet and Retegi were distanced on the Grosse Pierre gravel sector but Affini continued to sit on Pedersen’s wheel, with the Dane holding their gap steady at around 35 seconds.

Laporte attacked with 33km to go, taking Vacek with him, and Affini finally took a turn in support of his teammate. But the Italian was dropped on the Côte de la Rochère, absorbed by the bunch, and soon spat out the back of the peloton too. 

A visibly tired Pedersen was reeled in on the penultimate gravel sector but the peloton’s march was slowed by Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek hanging back, and the leading duo held the gap at around half a minute.

Lotto-Dstny led the chase for Arnaud de Lie but as the kilometres ticked by it became clear the gap was unassailable: this was a two-man shootout for glory in Tours. Laporte and Vacek had time to try to psych each other out on the Avenue de Grammont before the Frenchman launched his sprint; Vacek couldn’t match his kick and Laporte had time to celebrate as he crossed the line. 

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