Paris-Tours: Greg Van Avermaet Delivers for BMC

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″

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