Christophe Laporte wins tough edition of the Paris-Tours, Jasper Philipsen comes third

Christophe Laporte has won the 118th edition of Paris-Tours. In a true mud spectacle, the Frenchman from Visma | Lease a Bike in the final for the counterattack. In the streets of Tours he defeated his fellow escapee Mathias Vacek in a sprint-á-deux.

While the Gravel World Championships took place in and around Leuven, the event also took place on unpaved roads in France. And in the more than 125 year old Paris-Tours. The start-up phase from Chartres was relatively easy, but the last seventy kilometers towards Tours contained the necessary obstacles. The riders had to choose from ten gravel strips and numerous short, vicious slopes.

In the first part of the 213 kilometer race, a leading group of four emerged. The biggest name at the front was that of Edoardo Affini. The Italian from Visma | Lease a Bike went on an adventure with the Spaniard Mikel Retegi (Equipo Kern Pharma), the Frenchman Enzo Boulet (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) and the Belgian Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB). The latter was the first to be caught by the peloton at 107 kilometers from the end.

Pedersen opens the final
With a sprinter’s field to die for – Arnaud De Lie, Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen were among others – it did not take long to wait until control was established in the peloton. Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek in particular were active at the front of the large group. But the American formation was not aiming for a bunch sprint. In rainy France, leader Pedersen – as so often – felt good. He placed a first attack 69 kilometers from the finish. Pascal Ackermann was initially on his wheel, but had to let go quickly.

While the Dane moped on towards the leading group without looking back, it was time for the first gravel strips. With just over 55 kilometers to go, the former world champion joined the three at the front. There was no good cooperation, the early escapees were no longer willing or able to do so. Pedersen saw his lead over the peloton quickly shrink to half a minute.

Laporte opts for the counterattack
In the meantime, we saw the necessary accelerations in the peloton that caused the peloton to thin out further. Yet the gap to the leaders – in the meantime only Pedersen and Affini were still at the front – remained above half a minute for a long time. Christophe Laporte saw this gap as an opportunity to make the crossing. It caused the television viewer at the front of the race to see double. The Frenchman was joined by Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and quickly closed the gap to their teammates.

It turned out to be the end for Laporte and Vacek, because twenty kilometers from the finish Pedersen also had to let go after Affini. Meanwhile, in the peloton, about 25 seconds behind, it was running and standing still. Both were confident in their final sprint, because the teammates in the background usually kept their legs still. Lotto-Dstny and Alpecin-Deceuninck did not have much manpower left to bring their Belgian leaders to the leaders.

A sprint-á-deux
The chase in the peloton started too late. In the streets of Tours it would come down to a sprint between the Czech and the Frenchman. Home rider Laporte was the first to attack and stayed ahead of his fellow attacker by a large margin. Jasper Philipsen won the sprint for third place from the peloton.