Matteo Trentin offers the hat-trick to quick step floors!

May 9 th 2018 - 08:18

The stars of the peloton in Brou for the 111th Paris-Tours

They were 172 this morning congregated on the City Hall square in Brou, charming town from the Eure-et-Loire department that was hosting the 111th edition of the Classic of the fallen leaves. In a familial atmosphere and under a mild although grey sky with no wind, the contestants set forth at 11.25 am for a day through the ‘tourangelle' landscapes. On the menu, a 234.5 kms race rediscovering the Beau Soleil and Epan's hills in the last 10 kms, taken out last year because of the imminent World Championship.
One thing is for sure, the numerous spectators went back home starry-eyed by the line-up. On the sprinters' side, one could catch sight of the Frenchmen Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis Solutions Crédits) and Marc Sarreau (FDJ) and the internationals Mark Cavendish (Team Dimension Data), the last winner Fernando Gaviria (Quick Step Floors) or also André « Gorilla » Greipel, avenging after a complicated 2017 season. Matteo Trentin (Quick Step Floors), four times stage winner on the last Vuelta, or the prominent Olivier Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale) were representing the punchers, eagerly awaited to spice up the scenario of a race pretty much promised to a bunch sprint.

5 men at the front to the first hill

It took less than half an hour to the impatient ones to get foiled. They are five to give the bunch a slip. Amongst them, a young rider whose name will certainly ring a bell to anyone keeping track of this closing 2017 season. 25 years old Lawrence Naesen (WB Veranclassica Quality Protect) is none other than Belgium's national champion Oliver Naesen (Ag2r La Mondiale). In a few weeks, he'll discover the World Tour races but for now, it is at the front that he decided to spend the day. With him in the break, his fellow countryman Michael Goolaerts (Veranda's Willems-Crelan), the Dutch Brian Van Goethem (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) already at the front in 2016 and the French Romain Combaud (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Stéphane Poulhiès (Armée de Terre). If the group brought the gap to 5'40 at kilometre 41, the gap remained stable around 3'40 controlled by a Quick Step Floors squad to keep the fugitives close at hand. With a hand from teams Lotto Soudal and Lotto NL-Jumbo set at a brisk pace (around 46 km/h), the gap dwindled to 2'15 while the riders were making their entrance in the Indre-et-Loire department, 80 kilometres from the finish.
As the riders came closer to Tours and to the 5 five men at the front, the rain invited itself to the celebration. In the hill of Crochu, 30 kilometres from the line, Goolaerts (Veranda's Willems-Crelan), Combaud (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Poulhiès (Armée de Terre) gave in while Mike Teunissen, the dutchman from Team Sunweb, tried his way out of the pack, all in vain. Only were left at the front the two survivors from the morning breakaway Lawrence Naesen (WB Veranclassica Quality Protect) and Brian Van Goethem (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) who stood firm beautifully, maintaining a forty-something gap.

Gaviria says goodbye to the double, Quick Step Floors switches to plan B

The race changed dramatically when, 7 kms from the Beau Soleil difficulty, the hot favourite and titleholder Fernando Gaviria (Quick Step Floors) missed the corner and crashed. Clinging on for a while to the back of the pack, he never saw the front row again and had to say goodbye to his dream of a second success. The dreaded hill of Beau Soleil, back on the route this year, gobbled up the two brave men at the front. Almost like it was a foregone conclusion, Matteo Trentin (Quick Step Floors) in person dealt a fatal blow and set fire to the peloton. In his wake, he dragged with him five strong riders, including FDJ sprinter's Lorrenzo Manzin. From this group, only Trentin (Quick Step Floors) and Danish Sunweb Soren Kragh Andersen will remain. On the lookout for his teammate, Nikki Terpstra (Quick Step Floors) accelerated and joined them without further ado.

Trentin takes Paris-Tours, again

Exploiting the vain attempt of the peloton to come together, the three deserters widened the gap and maintained a lead between 10 and 13 seconds. It will be enough to fight for victory. On Grammont avenue, the peloton could do nothing but watch the final show. Galvanised by Terpstra's work, Matteo Trentin triumphed, same as 2015 and offered his team its 52nd victory of the season, the hat-trick on Paris-Tours. He made it public, the Italian will ride in 2018 for Australian team Orica-Scott. What better gift before leaving for the team he became professional with?
Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) takes the second spot, Terpstra completes the podium. After them, André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) is the best of the rest. The first Frenchman is named Lorrenzo Manzin (FDJ), he's 12th.

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Paris-Tours Espoirs: Jasper Philipsen (BMC Development) triumphs after a super nervous race. Vendée department prevails the classification of the « Paris-Tours KM ».

The Espoir race, 187.5 kms long, ended on a 30 men bunch sprint, reduced because of a crash at the foot of the hill of L'Epan that spread the riders in different groups. Belgian Jasper Philipsen (BMC Development) outdistanced the two dutch riders from Lotto Soudal U23 Milan Menten and Gerben Thijssen. The first French to cross the line is Corentin Ermenault (Comité Hauts de France), at the 5th place. The younger ones were competing in the « Paris-Tours Km », a speed tournament designed for Juniors and Cadets categories. At team ranking, the Vendée team is prevailing. At individual classification, Hugo Pagès (Centre Val de Loire) was the fastest of the Cadets while Rayan Helal (Auvergne) won for the Juniors.

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