Tours triple triumph for Trentin
October 12 th 2025 - 16:56
The 119th edition of Paris-Tours produced an enthralling finale as Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) took the victory, with Christophe Laporte (Visma|Lease a Bike) and Albert Philipsen (Lidl-Trek) in second and third places respectively. The experienced Italian rider won a dramatic sprint to claim his third Paris-Tours victory after 2015 and 2017. At 36 years of age Trentin therefore equalled the record for most wins in the event - joining Erik Zabel, Guido Reybrouck, Paul Maye and Gustaaf Danneels in the circle of triple winners - proving too strong for his rivals on Boulevard Beranger in the centre of Tours. The top five was rounded out by Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ) who had been clear in a breakaway in the final kilometres but were caught by a counter attack inside the last kilometre on the streets of Tours.
Early attackers make the break
Shortly after midday in the Chartres sunshine, the 155 riders in the peloton headed towards the start, beginning a 7.3 km neutralised parade, with the official start given at 12.16pm. Noah Knight (Cofidis), Jartthijs De Vries (Unibet Tietema Rockets), Kenny Molly (Van Rysel Roubaix) and Johan Jacobs (Groupama-FDJ) went on the early attack, with Jordan Labrosse (Décathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Jonas Rutsch (Intermarché-Wanty) joining them at km 23, to make it a six-man breakaway.
Six down to five
At km 80 the six-rider lead group held a 2’15” gap over the chasing peloton, but shortly before km 100 British rider Knight withdrew from the race having been left behind by the breakaway. After two hours of racing, Jacobs, De Vries, Molly, Labrosse and Rutsch were traveling at an average speed of 49.75 km/h, the five leaders holding a 3'30" advantage over an accelerating peloton. However, by km 111 the breakaway were only 2'05" ahead of the leaders of the peloton, which had been split by a fierce acceleration at the front of the pack.
Back together
The peloton soon regrouped and the gap was 1'36" to the leaders as the ‘difficulties’ commenced at km 142.3 on the Cangey climb (1.1 km at 3.4%), whilst a puncture for Labrosse meant he fell behind the leading quartet. The race heated up over the unpaved sectors but the peloton remained compact with 54 km to go, the front quartet then leading by only 38 seconds. De Vries accelerated on the climb of Goguenne (0.7 km at 7.7%), getting away in the front briefly, with Jacobs following. But the last two survivors of the breakaway were caught by the peloton at the entrance to the unpaved Sector 7, the Grosse Pierre trail, 48.5 kilometres from the finish.
Lapeira and Gruel move ahead
Paul Lapeira (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) and Thibaud Gruel (Groupama – FDJ) then broke away from the bunch with 35km remaining, gaining a lead of over 20 seconds, which was reeled back to just seven seconds before the pair pulled away again. Lapeira and Gruel led by 35” with 22km to go, but a strong counter attack was launched with 17 km remaining by Christophe Laporte (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Albert Withen Philipsen (Lidl – Trek), Stefan Bissegger (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) and Mathias Vacek (Lidl – Trek). Vacek could not stay with the counter-attack and those four riders were ultimately able to reach Lapeira and Gruel in the final kilometre, with Trentin proving the strongest in front of the fans at roadside on the new final straight of a revised finish in Tours.
