|
Tours
252 km
Sunday 12 October
Top five standings:
1. Philippe Gilbert (FDJ)
2. Jan Kuyckx (Landbouwkrediet)
3. Sebastien Turgot (Bouygues Telecom)
4. Nicolas Vogondy (AG2R)
5. Tyler Farrar (Garmin) 4 secs behind.
Vogondy launches the final sprint but Gilbert surges and wins the 102nd Paris-Tours.
... and the five retain a solid lead over the peloton. It’s going to be close.
The five lead by eight seconds with two kilometres left.
Three kilometres to go and three Frenchmen - Vogondy, Turgot and Delage - battle it out with two Belgians - Kuyckx and Gilbert - on the famous avenue de Grammont. The bunch is not far away.
Gilbert has joined team-mate Delage and the three other escapees. Five men are in the lead with four kilometres to go.
Filippo Pozzato, Philippe Gilbert and Oscar Freire are now chasing behind the four escapees. Only five kms to go.
Four riders in the lead with a 25 seconds lead with 10 kms to go: French champion Nicolas Vogondy, Sebastien Turgot (Bouygues Telecom), Mickael Delage (FDJ) and Jan Kuyckx (Landbouwkrediet)
The peloton has split in two groups. The second part of the pack is 40 seconds adrift.
With 18 kms to go, the peloton, led by Quick Step riders, makes it back on the breakaway group.
Four riders are dropped from the leading group and seven riders, Lorenzetto, Renier, Voeckler, Markus Zberg, Coyot, Klostergaard and Martin remain in the lead.
Eleven riders find themselves in the front with 21 kms to go: Lorenzetto, Quinziato, Tjallingii, Lemoine, Renier, Voeckler, Markus Zberg, Coyot, Klostergaard, Martin, Cozza.
Maarten Tjallingii (Silence-Lotto) and Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) have caught Lemoine.
The two Garmin riders havd now been caught by the peloton, led by Lemoine’s team-mate William Bonnet. The Credit Agricole riders definitely mean to show their coulours for the last time.
Lemoine, who knows the region well, attacked in the Cote de Crochu, with 27 kms to go.
Km 223 - With the gap now down to 45 seconds, the break looks doomed.
The peloton are now but 1:20 behind Euser, Zabriskie (both Garmin), Lemoine (Credit Agricole), Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet) and Veelers (Skil Shimano) with 30 kms to go.
The average speed in the 5th hour was 45 kph. The overall average speed since the start was 42.5 kph.
Km 212 - The gap is now 1:45. A mass sprint is looming.
Euser, Zabriskie, Veelers, Delfosse and Lemoine now lead the peloton by exactly two minutes.
Zabriskie is doing a hell of a job in the leading group not giving his companions a chance to relay and take their turn.
The escapees, led by Zabriskie, are now 2:50 ahead of the peloton.
The Italian team have been the most active in the chase with Silence-Lotto. Poland’s Maciej Bodnar, at his best in his home Tour last month, has worked relentlessly for leaders Daniele Bennati, Francesco Chicchi or Filippo Pozzato.
France’s Tony Gallopin, the son of former pro Joel Gallopin, won the under-23 Paris-Tours. Tony is also the nephew of Astana team director Alain Gallopin.
As the bunch cross the Loire and enter the Renaissance town of Amboise (km 191), the gap has gone down to 2:20.
Ducthman Martijn Maaskant (Garmin) has crashed at the back of the peloton but is quickly back in action.
Km 155 - The gap is now under three minutes at 2:55.
The morning clouds have dispersed and it is now very sunny on the race.
The lead of Euser, Zabriskie, Lemoine, Veeler and Delfosse is down to 3:30 in Mesland (Km 173).
The average speed in the fourth hour was 41 kph. The overall average speed was 42.1 kph.
The peloton closing in again. The lead of the break in Pray (km 151.5) is now down to 4:30.
Italy’s Bernardo Riccio (Tinkoff) has given up in the feeding zone.
The lead of the five escapees goes up slightly at 5:20 at the end of the feeding zone (km 143)
Km 129 - The gap between the bunch and the five escapees - Heuser, Zanrizkie, Lemoine, Delfosse and Veelers - has gone down to 4:50.
The sprinters really refuse to miss their chance this year. Liquigas, Rabobank, Quick Step and Silence Lotto take turns at the front with Maciej Bodnar, Bram de Groot, Kevin Hulsmans and Olivier Kaisen leading the way.
Km 120 - The gap now down to 5:20.
The gap is going down again: 7:05 in Cloyes-sur-Loire (km 101.5)
The only Frenchman in the break, Cyril Lemoine, has a special motivation as he was born in Tours.
Tom Veelers was one of the great hopes of Dutch cycling when he twice won the national junior champioship in 1998 and 2000. After two years with Rabobank, which saw him win Paris-Roubaix under23 race in 2006, he joined Skil Shimano in 2008. He won a stage of the Qinghai Lake Tour this season.
Lemoine and Veelers will be team-mates next season since the Frenchman has signed with Skil Shimano for 2009.
Km 86 - The gap between the five escapees and the bunch has gone down to 9:25.
The average speed for the second hour of the race was 41.4 kph. The overall average speed so far is 42.7 kph.
The Italian and the Dutch team are the most active at the front of the peloton.
The gap resmains stable at 10:45 (km 79)
Euser, who will turn 25 in December, has been in form lately, winning his first pro race in September in Pennsylvania, the Univest Grand Prix.
David Zabriskie is the most famous of the five escapees. His most notable win was the Tour de France prologue in 2005 in Noirmoutier when he outshone Lance Armstrong. A four times US time trial champion, the Salt Lace City-born Zabriskie also won a time trial in the 2007 Giro.
The peloton reached Bonneval (km 67) 11:15 after the five escapees. Bonneval hosted Tour de France stage starts in 1999 and 2004. The stages were won by Mario Cipollini and Tom Boonen.
The five escapees have reached Bonneval (km 66), which hosts the start of the under-23 Paris-Tours race with a 11:00 lead over the peloton.
Kilometre 56 - The gap between the five and the main pack goes up to 10:35.
The five escapees, Lucas Euser and David Zabriskie (Garmin), Sebastien Delfosse (Landwouwkrediet), Cyril Lemoine (Credit Agricole) and Tom Veelers (Skil) now lead the peloton by 7:50.
The gap at kilometre 50 reaches 6:20.
The American caught the breakaways. Five men are now in the lead with a 5:50 lead over the peloton at kilometre 45.
The average speed in the first hour was 44 kph.
Kilometre 43 - Zabriksie is now only 35 seconds behind the break with the main bunch exactly six minutes off the pace.
David Zabriskie (Garmin) is chasing behind the four escapees. The American time trial specialist is 3:25 behind the break while the main pack is 5:35 adrift.
The lead of Lucas Euser (Garmin), Sebastien Delfosse (Landwouwkrediet), Cyril Lemoine (Credit Agricole) and Tom Veelers (Skil) goes up to 3:25 in Voise (kilometre 27).
Nice to see Cyril Lemoine in the leading group as this is also the last race for his French team Credit Agricole, who failed to find a sponsor for next season.
Two past winners, France’s Frederic Guesdon (2006) and Germany’s Erik Zabel (1994, 2003, 2005) are in the race. This is Zabel’s very last race.
The gap between the four escapees and the main bunch reaches 1:55 at kilometre 24.
Paris-Tours was once dubbed “the unofficial sprinters world championship” and some of the sport’s greatest sprinters did win it like Andre Leducq, Rene Le Greves, Rik Van Looy, Freddy Maertens, Sean Kelly, Johan Museeuw and Erik Zabel but some famous finishers never won it, most notably Eddy Merckx, Andre Darrigade or Mario Cipollini.
At kilometre 14, the gap reaches one minute.
The four escapees lead the bunch by 18 seconds.
Km 7 – The first move of the day is launched by Lucas Euser (Garmin) and Sebastien Delfosse (Landwouwkrediet), joined by Cyril Lemoine (Credit Agricole) and Tom Veelers (Skil).
Blood tests were held on 53 riders from teams Garmin, Cycle Collstrop, CSC, Skil Shimano, Columbia, Caisse d’Epargne and Topsort Vlaanderen.
The start was given to 179 riders after South-African Raynold Smith (Cycle Collstrop) pulled out.
The start was given at 11:11.
The field is a high level one this year with the most cited favourites being: Oscar Freire, Tom Boonen, Stijn Devolder, Philippe Gilbert, Daniele Bennati, world champion Alessandro Ballan, Erik Zabel and Robbie McEwen.
The weather is rather sunny at the start in St Arnoult-en-Yvelines but a few raindrops fell at the finish in Tours. There is no wind whatsoever on the course.
www.letour.fr welcomes you on the 102nd edition of Paris-Tours over 252 kilometres. The start will be given shortly. Stay connected!
