Welcome to Chartres for the start of Paris - Tours.

The race official have barely finished waving his start flag until former world champion Valverde is off in the attack.


The peloton seems quite sontent letting him get away with the company of Goldstein, Rowsell, Alawi and Bookwalter.


At the most they had a gap of just over 8 minutes but with 100 km to go the quintet have 5 minutes to the chasing peloton lead by Sauber, cycleYorkshire and In-n-Out


90 km and 4'30
80 km - 3'48
70 km - 3'19
60 km - 3'03

CRASH IN THE PELOTON!

It's Sonnery first on the ground head first, but he takes down others with him.
A total of 36 riders caught behind the gap created in the peloton.
Most Noteworthy: Hochmann, Park, Manan, Haller and Sonnery.
Everyone seems to get back on their bikes except Geschke, who keeps standing at the side of the road when the others.

By now the break ha50 km to go and 2'40 to the peloton.
The victims of the crash has 2'33 to the peloton so everything is still possible.

40 km to go and the peloton is putting on the pressure now lead by Sauber, Reddit and cycleYorkshire.

The high pace have started to make the peloton crack even more laving those caught behind with little chance of getting back to sprint.
1'53 between the break and the peloton and a further almost 3 minutes to groupe Haller with 18 riders in between.
Among the 18 we have Kruopis, Cimolai, Opie, Bercz and Ariesen.

30 km and the break has 1'35 to the peloton who has 1'40 to the 73 riders chasing.
Geschke is officially out of the race.

Not quite ready to catch the break we seee the peloton slowing down a bit we see a large group reconnecting with the peloton with 25 km to go.
Park, Hochmann and Sonnery still behind though.
Valverde struggling to keep the wheel of his breakaway companions.

As Valverde is caught with 15 km to go Smukulis counterattacks!

The Latvian is followed by Delgerbayer and Kneisky.
Surely the peloton won't allow three so strong riders to go away?

Smukulis is immensely powerful and just rockets past the break with Kneisky fighting hard not to completely lose contact.

Smukulis has just under a minute to a peloton now counting just 69 riders with 10 km to go.
Haller, Canelon and Thwaites among those lost behind.

The two in front enter the hill with 9 km to go side by side with a gap of 52 seconds to the peloton where Matsumato and the seemingless tireless Wyss have been put in charge.
The Swiss have been working hard for Sauber all day!

The duo still have a chance as Kneisky accelerates with 6 km to the line

Smukulis can't follow!

Have the peloton mistimed it?


Kneisky enters the final km with a big gap. Looks like a home win for the Frenchman here!


The crazy chase have left more or less only main sprinters in a straight line with 2,2 km to the line and no one wanting to start the sprint.
The order of business are:
Chavanne
Salleh
Rowe
Havik
Clarke
Brus
Harrison
Farrar
Vingerling
Krieger
Von Hoff
Meyer

Kneisky celebrates an impressive win as Smukulis is caught by the sprinters going under la flame rouge.


A messy one-on-one sprint into the final km.

It's Havik, Clarke, Rowe, Salleh for the podium surgee.




Havik the strongest in the end followed by Clarke and Rowe with Brus coming fast from behind to edge out Salleh for 5th


But NO! Rowe completely cracks just before the line dropping to 6th place.

Harrison takes 7th ahead of Vingerling, Krieger and Chavanne who just holds on to give Sauber two in top 10 as reward for their hard work all day.

Farrar just misses the top 10 beating Von Hoff and Meyer while Smukulis somehow salvages a 14th place despite looking beat the last 1,5 km.

1	Morgan Kneisky	Repsol - Honda	4h56'25
2	Yoeri Havik	Kulczyk - DMTEX	+ 56
3	Simon Clarke	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
4	Marco Brus	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
5	Mohamed Harrif Salleh	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
6	Matt Rowe	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
7	Sam Harrison	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
8	Michael Vingerling	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
9	Alexander Krieger	Philips - Continental	s.t.
10	Gabriel Chavanne	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
11	Tyler Farrar	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
12	Steele Von Hoff	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
13	Cameron Meyer	Team Reddit	s.t.
14	Gatis Smukulis	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
15	Kevin Fouquet	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
16	William Ford	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
17	Gasper Katrasnik	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
18	Mauro Santambrogio	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
19	Carlos Quintero	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
20	Mark Christian	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
21	Tony Martin	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
22	Tiziano Dall'Antonia	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
23	Daniel Juarez	SanCor	s.t.
24	Stijn Vandenbergh	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
25	Marildo Yzeiraj	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
26	Raymond Kreder	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
27	Jempy Drucker	Philips - Continental	s.t.
28	Evert Verbist	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
29	Phillip Gaimon	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
30	Jelle Wallays	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
31	Jan Hopman	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
32	Tom Thill	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
33	Chris Opie	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
34	Yoann Offredo	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
35	Julien Simon	Team Reddit	s.t.
36	Rüdiger Selig	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
37	Sayed Alawi	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
38	Ronan Van Zandbeek	Philips - Continental	s.t.
39	Arnaud Grand	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
40	Robert Bush	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
41	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
42	Erick Rowsell	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
43	Ryan Anderson	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
44	Yu Takenouchi	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
45	Shengjun Wu	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
46	Niklas Eg	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
47	Jos Van Emden	Philips - Continental	s.t.
48	Omer Goldstein	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
49	Marco Zafferani	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
50	Mathieu van der Poel	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
51	Maris Bogdanovics	Philips - Continental	s.t.
52	Jamalidin Novardianto	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
53	Yosukue Matsumoto	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
54	Brent Bookwalter	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
55	Danilo Wyss	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
56	Tiesj Benoot	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
57	Sonomtseren Delgerbayar	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
58	Xandro Meurisse	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
59	Boris Vallee	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
60	Grega Bole	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
61	Laurens De Vreese	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
62	Stanislav Zaraliev	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
63	Stelly Robert	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
64	Ha Jeon Jung	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
65	Ariel Sivori	SanCor	s.t.
66	Nic Hamilton	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
67	Daniel Thorsen	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
68	Daan Rijntjes	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
69	Alexey Vermeulen	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
70	Alejandro Valverde	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
71	Daniele Ratto	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
72	Scott Thwaites	cycleYorkshire	+ 4'42
73	Davide Cimolai	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
74	Jonathon Thire	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
75	Andi Bajc	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
76	Clément Venturini	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
77	Carl Ngamoki-Cameron	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
78	Igor Antón	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
79	Bart De Clercq	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
80	Nikolay Mihaylov	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
81	David Per	Philips - Continental	s.t.
82	Gabor Kasa	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
83	Nazir Jaser	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
84	Johim Ariesen	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
85	Linus Dahlberg	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
86	Azizulhasni Awang	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
87	Hersony Canelon	Team Reddit	s.t.
88	Ivan García Cortina	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
89	Asela Sisira	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
90	Steve Fisher	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
91	Adam Semple	cycleYorkshire	s.t.
92	Eryk Laton	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
93	Riccardo Stacchiotti	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
94	Michael Vanthourenhout	Löbauer Stadtwerke - Etixx	s.t.
95	Erdenebayar Daspuntsag	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
96	Marek Konwa	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
97	Connor McCutcheon	Goldcorp - Nordstrom Rack	s.t.
98	Michal Paluta	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
99	Andzs Flaksis	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
100	Kevin Seeldraeyers	Team Reddit	s.t.
101	Sam Witmitz	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
102	Walter Trillini	SanCor	s.t.
103	Andriy Vasylyuk	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
104	Dylan Kennett	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
105	Rafael Andriato	SanCor	s.t.
106	Xhuliano Kamberaj	VMP - Argon 18	s.t.
107	Eduardo Colon	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
108	Simone Petilli	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
109	Pedro Pablo Pereyra	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
110	Kevin Barclay	Wiggle p/b Boardman Bikes	s.t.
111	Kasper Asgreen	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
112	Songezo Jim	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
113	Audun Brekke FlOtten	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
114	Rei Onodera	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
115	Piet Allegaert	Philips - Continental	s.t.
116	Aydar Zakarin	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
117	Kristof Vandewalle	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
118	Xabier San Sebastian	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
119	Rick Flens	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	+ 7'32
120	Nidush Nirantha Fernando	Repsol - Honda	+ 10'43
121	Aidis Kruopis	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	+ 14'12
122	Patrick Bercz	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	+ 14'36
123	Ricardo Mestre	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
124	Maxime Bouet	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
125	Michael Torckler	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
126	Marco Haller	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	s.t.
127	Lars Croket	Team Reddit	s.t.
128	Marko Stankovic	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
129	Nicola Ruffoni	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
130	Paul Van der Ploeg	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
131	Olivier Lecourt De Billot	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
132	Xavier Nieves	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
133	Gavin Mannion	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
134	Ralf Matzka	Philips - Continental	s.t.
135	Loic Vliegen	Proximus Continental Team	s.t.
136	Stefano Agostini	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
137	Sebastian Tolosa	SanCor	s.t.
138	Alberigo Passalacqua	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
139	Laureano Rosas	SanCor	s.t.
140	Tao Geoghegan Hart	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
141	Richard Ochoa Quintero	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
142	Marco Benfatto	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
143	Abou Sanogo	World Cycling Centre	s.t.
144	Oscar Gatto	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
145	Pawel Cieslik	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
146	Michal Schlegel	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
147	Sung Baek Park	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
148	Blaise Sonnery	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
149	Daniel Ricardo Diaz	SanCor	s.t.
150	Jimmi Briceno	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
151	Hamish Schreurs	Xero Racing p/b Octagon	s.t.
152	Anuar Manan	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
153	Jíri Hochmann	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
154	Adria Urcelay	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
155	Hugues Mottin	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
156	Dadley Corwin	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
157	Redi Halilaj	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
158	Danny Osorio	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
159	Miguel Afonso	Andorra Cycling Project	s.t.
160	Lucas Manuel Gaday	SanCor	s.t.
161	Narankhuu Baterdene	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
162	Nicholas Schultz	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
163	Jaime Roson	Repsol - Honda	s.t.
164	Dmitry Trakhov	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
165	Dusan Kalaba	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
166	Félix Emilio Besada	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
167	Nils Schomber	Statoil Pro Cycling	s.t.
168	Wolfgang Burmann	The Balkan Cycling Project	s.t.
169	Piotr Konwa	Kulczyk - DMTEX	s.t.
170	Maky Roman	Aeropostal Venezuela Ciclismo	s.t.
171	Thomas Boudat	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
172	Aleksa Crncevic	Garmin - BikeNZ Cycling	s.t.
173	Erick Herrera	Azteca-NBCSN	s.t.
174	Thanawut Sanikwathi	In-n-Out p/b Carrefour	+ 17'32
175	Alvaro Cuadros	Repsol - Honda	+ 18'14
176	Jean-François Camier	Team Reddit	+ 20'33