After a very entertaining race and exciting finale, Greg Van Avermaet clinched the most prestigious victory of his career. The BMC rider took off with 14 men and 60kms to go and eventually beat Marco Marcato to the line.
Under a grey sky (windy), the pack of the 105th edition of Paris-Tours took off from the city of Voves for a 230.5km ride. Among the 188 riders eager to batte it out was of course the recent World Champion, Mark Cavendish (THR) hoping to become the first ever Rainbow Jersey carrier to win the autumn classic.
As soon as the first kilometre, 4 riders managed to break away. Boucher (OLO), Klier (GRM), Martias (SAU) and Delfosse (LAN) were to be caught by three other men at km 7: Clarke (LEO), Bertogliati (TT1), Van Goolen (VWA). From then on the gap with the pack started increasing: from 50″ at km 8 to 5′ at km 15.
The group of escapees enjoyed a maximum advantage of 11’05 at km 47. Team Rabobank of title holder Oscar Freire and the HTC-Highroad side of Cavendish then really took in the chase. At km 100, the gap had dropped down to 8’05.
At km 118, after the BMC boys increased the pace, the pack broke up into several groupe. In a first bunch were all the favourites except for McEwen (RSH) and Bennati (LEO). The speed carried on increasing and the advantage of the front men dropped down to 2’35 at km 143.
Right: Ian Stannard
Eventually the pack bunched up again at km 154. Six kms later, 15 riders managed to take off on a counter-attack, including Van Avermaet (BMC), Gerard and Delage (FDJ), Lequatre (RSH) and Duque (COF). The group caught up with the race leaders at km 172. 22 men and soon 21, after Clarke was dropped back, enjoyed the leadership.
After several attempts at counters, the situation calmed down and the front group could enjoy an advantage of 1’10 to 1’30. With 25km to go, the gap grew to 1’40. Serious business started at km 213 when Gerard (FDJ) attacked on his own. The 27-year-old Frenchman enjoyed a 18″ lead over two men, Van Avermaet and Marcato.
Just before the Cote de Beau Soleil (km 220), Gerard was caught and dropped by his chasers. Sylvain Chavanel (QST), and then Philippe Gilbert (OLO) tried their luck at the front of the pack but their attempts came too late. Victory was to be decided between Van Avermaet and Marcato (VCD) who had a decent enough lead before the final kilometre.
Van Avermaet attacked first with 300m to go and flew to a prestigious win. Often well placed, the Belgian wins a Classic, eventually beating Marcato and Klostergaard-Larsen (SBS).
Fourth Win Of 2011
It was Van Avermaet’s fourth victory of the season. He took the final stage of the Tour de Wallonie on the way to winning the overall and won Stage 6 of the Tour of Austria en route to the points classification there. His previous best finish at Paris-Tours came in 2009 when he finished 14th while helping then (and future) teammate Philippe Gilbert take the win. Assisting Van Avermaet on the BMC Racing Team Sunday was Taylor Phinney (23rd), Michael Schär (48th), Alessandro Ballan (57th), Marcus Burghardt (58th), Mauro Santambrogio (59th) and Martin Kohler (73rd). “The team did a really good job and we tried to make the whole race really hard and control the race the whole day,” Van Avermaet said.
BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said he hatched a plan to split the race in the crosswinds just after the feed zone (115 km to go). “When I passed the feed zone and saw the soigneur with all seven musettes still in his hands, I said to our mechanic that it was a good sign that we were all going for it,” Lelangue said. “We had our entire team in the first group of 50 and from then on we were going in all the counters and all the groups and Greg was in a good one. It was a good way to finish the classics season.”
Result
1.   Van Avermaet Greg        Bmc Racing Team
2.   Marcato Marco        Vacansoleil-Dcm       + 00′ 02″
3.   Klostergaard-Larsen Kasper        Saxo Bank Sungard       + 00′ 15″
4.   Stannard Ian        Sky Procycling       + 00′ 15″
5.   Bodrogi Laszlo        Team Type 1       + 00′ 15″
6.   Delage Mickaël        Fdj       + 00′ 22″
7.   Lequatre Geoffroy    Team Radioshack    5h 22′ 05″
8.   O’grady Stuart        Team Leopard-Trek       + 00′ 22″
9.   Curvers Roy        Skil-Shimano       + 00′ 22″
10.   Gerard Arnaud        Fdj       + 00′ 26″
11.   Degenkolb John        Htc – Highroad       + 00′ 48″
12.   Hayman Mathew        Sky Procycling       + 00′ 48″
13.   Boucher David        Omega Pharma – Lotto       + 00′ 48″
14.   Tjallingii Maarten        Rabobank Cycling Team       + 00′ 48″
15.   Gaudin Damien        Team Europcar       + 00′ 48″
16.   Buts Vitaliy        Lampre – Isd       + 00′ 48″
17.   Delfosse Sebastien        Landbouwkrediet       + 00′ 48″
18.   Bertogliati Rubens        Team Type 1       + 00′ 53″
19.   Mc Ewen Robbie        Team Radioshack       + 01′ 23″
20.   Freire Oscar        Rabobank Cycling Team       + 01′ 23″
21.   Petit Adrien        Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne       + 01′ 23″
22.   Veelers Tom        Skil-Shimano       + 01′ 23″
23.   Phinney Taylor       Bmc Racing Team       + 01′ 23″
24.   Saramotins Aleksejs        Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne       + 01′ 23″
25.   Henderson Gregory        Sky Procycling       + 01′ 23″
26.   Pichon Laurent        Bretagne – Schuller       + 01′ 23″
27.   Petacchi Alessandro        Lampre – Isd       + 01′ 23″
28.   Vanmarcke Sep        Team Garmin – Cervelo       + 01′ 23″
29.   Wallays Jelle        Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator       + 01′ 23″
30.   Ligthart Pim        Vacansoleil-Dcm       + 01′ 23″
31.   Cooke Baden        Saxo Bank Sungard       + 01′ 23″
32.   Krivtsov Yuriy        Ag2r La Mondiale       + 01′ 23″
33.   Bol Jetse        Rabobank Cycling Team       + 01′ 23″
34.   Feillu Romain        Vacansoleil-Dcm       + 01′ 23″
35.   Chavanel Sylvain    Quick Step Cycling Team    5h 23′ 06″
36.   Van Vooren Steven       Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator       + 01′ 23″
37.   Arashiro Yukiya       Team Europcar       + 01′ 23″
38.   Gallopin Tony        Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne       + 01′ 23″
39.   Kluge Roger        Skil-Shimano       + 01′ 23″
40.   Lloyd Daniel        Team Garmin – Cervelo       + 01′ 23″
41.   Guesdon Frédéric        Fdj       + 01′ 23″
42.   Cavendish Mark        Htc – Highroad       + 01′ 23″
43.   Offredo Yoann        Fdj       + 01′ 23″
44.   Bak Lars        Htc – Highroad       + 01′ 23″
45.   Sutton Christopher        Sky Procycling       + 01′ 23″
46.   Coyot Arnaud        Saur-Sojasun       + 01′ 23″
47.   Geslin Anthony        Fdj       + 01′ 23″
48.   Schär Michael        Bmc Racing Team       + 01′ 23″
49.   Dempster Zakkari       Htc – Highroad       + 01′ 23″
50.   Flecha Giannoni Juan Antonio        Sky Procycling       + 01′ 23″
51.   Lemarchand Romain        Ag2r La Mondiale       + 01′ 23″
52.   Dumoulin Samuel        Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne       + 01′ 23″
53.   Arvesen Kurt-Asle        Sky Procycling       + 01′ 23″
54.   Maes Nikolas        Quick Step Cycling Team       + 01′ 23″
55.   Galland Jeremie        Saur-Sojasun       + 01′ 31″
56.   Leukemans Bjorn        Vacansoleil-Dcm       + 01′ 34″
57.   Ballan Alessandro        Bmc Racing Team       + 01′ 36″
58.   Burghardt Marcus        Bmc Racing Team       + 01′ 36″
59.   Santambrogio Mauro        Bmc Racing Team       + 01′ 36″
60.   Tankink Bram        Rabobank Cycling Team       + 01′ 36″
61.   Ladagnous Matthieu       Fdj       + 01′ 36″
62.   Wynants Maarten        Rabobank Cycling Team       + 01′ 36″
63.   Klier Andreas        Team Garmin – Cervelo       + 01′ 36″
64.   Duque Leonardo        Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne       + 01′ 36″
65.   Lindeman Bert Jan        Vacansoleil-Dcm       + 01′ 36″
66.   Fröhlinger Johannes        Skil-Shimano       + 01′ 40″
67.   Gilbert Philippe        Omega Pharma – Lotto       + 01′ 46″
68.   Caethoven Steven        Veranda’s Willems-Accent       + 02′ 14″
69.   Fouchard Julien        Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne       + 02′ 14″
70.   Goddaert Kristof        Ag2r La Mondiale       + 02′ 14″
71.   Scheirlinckx Staf        Veranda’s Willems-Accent       + 02′ 30″
72.   Rasch Gabriel        Team Garmin – Cervelo       + 02′ 30″
73.   Kohler Martin        Bmc Racing Team       + 02′ 30″
74.   Rousseau Nicolas        Big Mat-Auber 93       + 02′ 30″
75.   Velits Martin        Htc – Highroad       + 02′ 30″
76.   Martias Rony        Saur-Sojasun       + 02′ 47″
77.   Van Goolen Jurgen        Veranda’s Willems-Accent       + 02′ 47″
78.   Chavanel Sébastien        Team Europcar       + 03′ 17″
79.   Lemoine Cyril        Saur-Sojasun       + 04′ 22″
80.   Steensen Andre        Saxo Bank Sungard       + 07′ 25″
81.   Brown Graeme        Rabobank Cycling Team       + 07′ 25″
82.   Kwiatkowski Michal        Team Radioshack       + 07′ 25″
83.   Brammeier Matt        Htc – Highroad       + 07′ 25″
84.   Steegmans Gert        Quick Step Cycling Team       + 07′ 25″
85.   Vermeltfoort Coen        Rabobank Cycling Team       + 13′ 56″
86.   Clarke William        Team Leopard-Trek       + 13′ 56″
87.   Isasi Inaki        Euskaltel – Euskadi       + 15′ 11″
88.   Azanza Soto Jorge        Euskaltel – Euskadi       + 15′ 11″
89.   Oroz Juan José        Euskaltel – Euskadi       + 15′ 11″
