16 h 03 – 48 km. There are only two left in the lead: Pedersen and Affini. But the peloton, which is extremely stretched, is getting dangerously close…
15 h 52 – 56 km. Mads Pedersen has just joined the leading trio. There are now four of them opening the road.
15 h 45 – 67 km. Oh my, the condition of the first trail… It’s muddy, dotted with huge puddles and extremely slippery. A real construction site!
Meanwhile, Mads Pedersen is still chasing potatoes (interspersed) between the three leading men and the peloton.
15 h 35 – 69 km. The first banderilla! It’s Mads Pedersen, the Dane from Lidl-Trek, who accelerates at the front of the peloton, even before the foot of the Limeray hill.
15 h 30 – 72 km. Here are the eight hills and ten vineyard paths that the peloton will take.
The route in Indre-et-Loire.
© (Infographic NR)
15 h 25 – 75 km. The rain increases and the first vineyard path comes into view. The race will get lively and the teams not banking on a sprint victory will try to shake up the peloton. Starting with the TotalEnergies riders, who will want to favor their leader, Anthony Turgis, winner of the white paths stage on the last Tour de France.
Among them, we find Deux-Sévrien Thomas Gachignard and Châtelleraudais Thomas Bonnet, both ill at the start of the week but determined to be offensive.
Thomas Gachignard (left) and Thomas Bonnet (right), this morning before departure, in Chartres.
© (Photo NR, Hugues Le Guellec)
15 h 15 – 83 km. There is the outgoing winner, there are the sprinters and there are the classics runners. And among them, there is Valentin Madouas, the Breton from Groupama-FDJ who won the silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “He could have gone to Italy but it would have been a bit stupid to go that far when there is a race in France that he likes, explains Frédéric Guesdon, its sports director. We finished 2e with Lewis Askey last year, the group is motivated but the field is tough at Paris-Tours. Lots of factors come into play with paths. It’s good to have several cards. »
And these cards include Askey, Olivier Le Gac and sprinter Paul Penhoët, all placed in the Top 10 last year.
3:05 p.m. – 90 km to go. Bib number 1 is worn by the young American Riley Sheehan. Surprise winner last year, the Israel-Premier Tech rider returns to Paris-Tours with enthusiasm and ambition. And the rain doesn’t scare him, on the contrary! “I really like wet racing, I think it can help me. Maybe I would enjoy this race even more! »
2:50 p.m. – 101 km to go. Let’s take stock of the race: four runners escaped after around ten kilometers. They are Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a bike), Mikel Retegi (Kern Pharma), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB) and Enzo Boulet (CIC U Nantes Atlantique). The peloton quickly recovered to give them a good lead, which increased to five minutes.
But this gap is however decreasing, since it is now 2’05 and there are only three in the lead, Ceriel Desal, victim of a fall, having been caught by the peloton.
Note that Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny) also fell. Does the curse of Paris-Tours still haunt the Belgian, who had to abandon the last two editions? However, he is one of the big favorites of this 118e edition, alongside Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
14 h 45. Hello and welcome to this live! The 118e edition of Paris-Tours set off from Chartres this Sunday morning, at 11:55 a.m. The peloton, made up of 156 runners (23 teams in total), will cover 213.8 km to reach avenue de Grammont, in Tours , where the finish is judged.
With, on the menu, eight hills and ten vineyard paths, all placed in the last 70 kilometers of the event. Suffice to say that everything will be at stake there! Especially considering the state of the vineyard paths, made extremely muddy by the recent rains. “It’s the first time we’re going to race on these paths in rainy weather, it will no doubt surprise the peloton”said Arnaud Démare, double winner of the event (2021 and 2022), this morning before departure.
Puddles, potholes… The paths have perhaps never been so tricky, as these images shot by At NO at the start of the week.
This Paris-Tours therefore promises to be Dantesque. And if there are many contenders, they will have to have some luck to triumph.
