News: Paris-Tours sees Ciolek versus Demare

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The 107th edition of the classic Paris-Tours on Sunday October 13th, brings together a group of top-class sprinters headed by Gerald Ciolek, winner of Milan-San Remo earlier this year and the Frenchmen Arnaud Demare (Ride London winner).

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ASO Press Release

Paris-Tours is the last chance for professional riders to add a prestigious classic race to their CV this year. The characteristics of this final race are well-known: at the end of a long 235-kilometre route often exposed to the wind, the strong men in the peloton usually sort it all out in the sprint. Those who like sprints will enjoy this situation with a possible clash between generations that could be explosive.

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Gerald Ciolek (above at the Cycle Show last weekend) will try and round off his season with the same success as when he won Milan-San Remo. In order to win in Tours, he will need to get past older riders such as Mark Renshaw, Tyler Farrar, Jürgen Roelandts or Heinrich Haussler, and also a group of young sprinters led by John Degenkolb, the Frenchmen Arnaud Demare and Bryan Coquard, or perhaps Alexey Lutsenko from Kazakhstan.

A look back at previous winners shows that, in the ‘classic of the falling leaves’, victory can also be achieved by anticipating other riders’ movements. The last two winners, Greg Van Avermaet (2011) and Marco Marcato (2012), built their victories from a long way out. In this respect, there will be several good candidates on the start line at Authon-du-Perche.

Sylvain Chavanel and Thomas Voeckler will be closely watched on the slopes of Beau Soleil or Epan, for example. Other surprise attackers could also shine, such as Lieuwe Westra, Enrico Gasparotto or Sep Vanmarcke.

The 25 teams selected – the main entrants

MTN-Qhubeka: Ciolek (Ger)
Lotto-Belisol: Bak (Den), Roelandts (Bel)
Omega Pharma – Quick Step Cycling Team: Chavanel (Fra), Maes, Meersman (Bel), Terpstra (Ned)
Accent Jobs – Wanty: Van Dijk (Ned), Vogondy (Fra)
Crelan-Euphony: Juodvalkis (Lit)
TopSport Vlaanderen – Baloise: De Vreese (Bel)

Team Saxo-Tinkoff: Kroon (Nedl), Morkov (Den), Tosatto (Ita)
Euskaltel-Euskadi: Radochla (All), Bilbao (Esp)

BMC Racing Team: Burghardt (Ger), Van Avermaet (Bel)
Garmin-Sharp: Bauer (NZL), Farrar (USA), Hunter (SAF)

AG2R La Mondiale: S.Dumoulin (Fra)
FDJ: Demare, Geslin, Offredo (Fra)
Bretagne РS̩ch̩ Environnement: Delpech, Lequatre (Fra)
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits: Lemarchand, Levarlet, Petit (Fra)
Sojasun: Hivert (Fra), Siskevicius (Lit)
Team Europcar: Coquard, Voeckler (Fra)
BigMat – Auber 93: Baquet, Drujon (Fra)
La Pomme Marseille: Antomarchi, Jules (Fra)
Roubaix Lille Métropole: Kowalski (Fra)

Astana Pro Team: Gasparotto (Ita), Lutsenko (Kaz)
Belkin Pro Cycling Team: Boom (Ned), Renshaw (Aus), Vanmarcke (Bel)
Team Argos-Shimano: Degenkolb (Ger), T.Dumoulin (Ned), Janse Van Rensburg (SAF)
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team: Leukemans (Bel), Marcato (Ita), Westra (Ned)

Katusha Team: Ignatyev (Rus), Kuchynski (Blr)
lIAM Cycling: Elmiger (Swi), Haussler (Aus)

 

 

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