Degenkolb finishes 2013 with Paris-Tours victory

The finale of Paris-Tours is a delicately-poised battle between the attackers and the sprinters, and John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) reported for duty on both fronts en route to victory on the Avenue de Grammont on Sunday.

Degenkolb proved a convincing winner of the bunch sprint ahead of Michael Mørkøv (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr), having already showcased his form by tracking what had appeared to be the race-winning move on the penultimate climb of the Côte de Beau Soleil with apparent ease.

Indeed, there can be little argument over the worthiness of the top three, given that Démare and Mørkøv also made it across to that dangerous seven-man break that formed in the finale but then petered out on the run-in to Tours, largely because of its preponderance of generals and dearth of foot soldiers.

Jetse Bol (Belkin) took advantage of that lack of cohesion in the group to slip clear on the descent of the final climb, the Côte de l'Épan, but once Degenkolb, Démare, Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) et al were caught with a shade under five kilometres to go, Argos-Shimano duly set about pegging back Bol.

Bol put up fierce resistance, aided in no small part by teammate Lars Boom’s spoiling tactics behind, but his insurgence was cruelly stamped out shortly after he swung onto the finishing straight with 800 metres to go. By that point, FDJ had taken over the reins at the head of the peloton, with Yoann Offredo prominent, and Démare was dropped off in front a shade over 200 metres from the line.

Démare was forced to open his sprint a little too early, perhaps, but in truth, it seemed that there was little to be done against the on-form Degenkolb, who won Paris-Bourges in midweek and had pedalled with such facility when he followed Marco Marcato’s attack on the Beau Soleil with 10 kilometres to race here. The German duly ripped past Démare and he had more than enough in reserve to hold off the fast-finishing Mørkøv to end his campaign with a classic victory.

“It was a pretty typical Paris-Tours, it was hectic on in the finale with those little hills and the situation kept changing,” Degenkolb said of his decision to take a risk by following the attacks on the penultimate climb. “I think I did it pretty smart as I didn’t waste too much energy, so I had something left for the finish. It was up to us to chase Bol when he was left out in front and you could see how strong the team was by the way they worked in the finale.”

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg was prominent in marshalling the chase of Bol, but Degenkolb was irritated by Belkin’s attempts to sabotage Argos-Shimano’s well-drilled pursuit. Boom, in particular, cleverly infiltrated the pace line and allowed Bol to stretch his lead out to 12 seconds with two kilometres remaining.

“I’m disappointed in Belkin. I know they didn’t want us to catch Bol they didn’t do it in such a good way,” Degenkolb said, darkly warning of further strife between the two remaining Dutch WorldTour teams. “It will have consequences in the future.”

How it unfolded

After heavy rain had such an impact on the world championships and the Tour of Lombardy over the past two weekends, the skies were mercifully clear as the peloton set out from Authon-du-Perche for a race that may now sadly be overlooked by the UCI WorldTour, but one that remains a reassuring constant in the cycling cosmos.

The early break featured Sebastian Lander (BMC), Julien Duval (Roubaix Lille Metropole), Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling) and Yannick Martinez (La Pomme-Marseille) and the quartet established a lead of ten minutes over the peloton by the 75km mark, before FDJ.fr, Garmin-Sharp and Argos-Shimano quietly went about the business of whittling down their advantage.

By the time they hit the Côte de Crochu with 31 kilometres to go, their margin had been pegged back to just 1:22, while the race behind was beginning to ignite into action thanks to a carefully-planned attack from Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s Niki Terpstra, who was looking to bring Sylvain Chavanel across with him. Argos-Shimano shut down the move over the summit, but it was a clear signal that the sprinters’ teams could expect fierce resistance on the run-in to Tours.

Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) was the next to try his luck, bringing Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and four others away with him, but the sprinters’ teams never allowed them out of sight, and they were caught with 15 kilometres to go.

By that point, a number of riders had been jettisoned on the Crochu, and more were lost in a crash that brought down Bryan Coquard with 25km to go, although the Europcar youngster did manage to regain the bunch. Up ahead, the four leaders were beginning to weaken, and one by one, they faded away until the obvious strongman, Saramotins, was left out in front, but he, too, was caught on the approach to the Côte de Beau Soleil.

On the climb, defending champion Marco Marcato was instantly on the offensive, bringing Vanmarcke and Degenkolb clear with him, and they were joined soon afterwards by Sylvain Chavanel, Bol, Démare and Mørkøv, forming what looked every inch the winning break with 9 kilometres remaining.

The presence of so many sprinters may have dissuaded the bunch’s chase efforts, but it also discouraged collaboration in the break itself, and that reticence was compounded when the impressive Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) soloed across on the final climb. In the confusion over the summit, Bol managed to slip away, while his erstwhile companions were eventually enveloped by the peloton ahead of the rapid approach to Tours.

In those frantic closing kilometres, Argos-Shimano did what was required of them by their leader Degenkolb, and after Bol was caught, the German delivered a pitch perfect sprint finish to crown his season. “I’ve shown I’m a man for the classics this season,” Degenkolb said. “Paris-Tours was the next step for me after winning in Hamburg in August [at the Vattenfall Cyclassics – ed.] and I’m very satisfied."

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