Bonjour everybody and thanks for joining the coverage of the 2018 edition of Paris Tours. A classic that famously ends up either in a bunch sprint or a late attack. Though cycling can be unpredictable at times. So we'll only know what will happen in four to five hours.

Today's top favourites according to an algorythm are Guarnieri, Van Heerden and Colbrelli, while Kluge and Ratto are named as two riders who may potentially have a trick up their sleeves near the end of the race.



And as we start the race, we immediately get an attack of six riders who aren't scared of being in a very, very long break:

Matte
Reddish
Camargo
Ahmad Zamri
Bonnamour
and Bain.



Salas however doesn't like this break and single-handedly clears the gap.

It's Ahmad Zamri
Bonnamour
and Reddish.



Three of them try again however and seem to be more successful this time. Two minutes for them in the blink of an eye!



Yep, this will be the break of the day. 3'34 with '204 kilometers to go. GCN and ENI-MOL are trying to control the pack. Even Pinot is relaying!



50 kilometers later we can see Valio is joining the chase. 5 minutes for the leaders now. Should be controllable, but you never know.



With 40 kilometers and 3 minutes to the leaders, Quintero decides to attack from the bunch! As the famous announcer says, there's not much sense to it, but at least he gets a mention!

He gets reeled in two kilometers later.



Another attack follows. This time, it's Zhupa and Losch trying the unthinkable.

Breakaway – 1'04 – Zhupa and Losch – '38 – Peloton.



Same fate for this two brave guys, as Mollema reels them back in.

This does mean the breakaway only has 30 seconds left, so once they get back into the peloton, the real finale may start!



And indeed. Although it took the peloton a bit longer than expected (there are 18 kilometers left), the peloton re-uniting immediately sparked an attack by a dangerous baroudeur. It's Quicibal who tries to make a gap. Can he do it?



The answer is no. He had a maximum of 15 seconds, but this time Markus got him back into the pack. Rothaus has been very active near the front so far, that's for sure.



We've now reached the top of the final climb, in which Pinot kept such a high pace that not a single rider tried an attack. It's starting to look more and more like we're going to get a traditional bunch sprint!



Okay, maybe not? As sprint trains are being formed, Kangangi is giving it one more go for Equinor!



It doesn't look like he can gain much time, however. The same counts for Yzeiraj, who doesn't even reach the front of the pack.

Time to take a look at the sprinters' positioning then:

Kangangi
	McLay
	Haddi
	Keukeleire		Yzeiraj
	Matthews
	Guarnieri		Markus
		Wippert	Krasnov
King		Coutinho	Vanoverschelde
		Van Heerden

While Nizzolo, Colbrelli and Manninen seem to be fighting for Van Heerden's wheel.

All other sprinters like Guillén and Modolo are very far back and need to move up quickly if they want to have a shot at winning today.



3 kilometers to go. Kangangi is still slightly ahead while Yzeiraj also made his way through the trains. GCN's train seems to be the best one today. They have put Keukeleire into winning position, though everything is far from over!



2 kilometers. Haddi is now the one leading out Keukeleire. Matthews and Guarnieri have his wheel and are looking to benefit from his train!



Under the red kite, we can see that Haddi is still up front but Krasnov, as well as Coutinho and Van Heerden are trying to pass him on the left of this picture! Keukeleire, as well as Matthews and Guarnieri, now have to make a move fast or they will get stuck!



500 metres and beleive it or not, but Krasnov currently has the best papers to win it! Coutinho is behind him and might benefit if he cracks.

Behind them ,it's full party mode: Guarnieri and Matthews decided they couldn't wait for Keukeleire and passed him, though Keukeleir is now finally startng to sprint too. Vanoverschelde and Nizzolo on the left are also going fast. Manninen is behind them. I certainly can't predict a winner yet.



200 metres left. Krasnov and Coutinho are still ahead, but riders behind them are going much faster. Van Heerden and Guarnieri have the best papers to pass them in the nick of time. Though Vanoverschelde, Nizzolo and Manninen on the right can also still step up the podium! It's so close!

Keukeleire and Matthews ran out of steam, though. This won't please their managers.



But it's Leonid Krasnov who wins the 2018 edition of Paris-Tours!!! Though holy... He did make it scary by cheering before the finish line, as Guarnieri almost Zabel'd him. Still, he should be okay with second here.

What a stunt, a leadout rider staying ahead until the very end... This race will be talked about for a long time!



Vanoverschelde completes ENI-MOL's party and finishes third! Hopefully he'll be okay with a teammate winning, too.

This will certainly cause ENI-MOL to go ape! Ha, get it? Animal? Ape? Ugh.

Van Heerden just didn't have the energy left and finishes fourth. Which would've been fine for him already, but Coutinho's seventh place should certainly make his team even more pleased.

Nizzolo and Manninen did around as expected and finished fifth and sixth. Keukeleire couldn't finish the great job his team did for him and has to settle with 8th.



Quite far behind (I almost thought of a gap!), Matthews and King complete the top 10. Good for King, meh for Matthews.



Some riders who certainly couldn't meet up with expectations are Kluge (11th), Colbrelli (12th), Modolo (27th), Carsi (64th) and Guillén (71th). For the latter two, ste final climbs were just too hard for them to sprint. But that certainly won't be an excuse for Modolo.



And let's finish off with Leonid Krasnov celebrating his victory. A true sign that being a good leadout can be worth a lot. Even more than a good sprinter in this case!

So yes, we did end up with a bunch sprint, but it was a very interesting one. We hope you have joined the coverage of the 2018 edition of Paris-Tours, and would love to see you back for more races on the calendar. Cya!



Results

1	Leonid Krasnov	ENI-MOL	5h05'12
2	Jacopo Guarnieri	Delvaux	s.t.
3	Kobe Vanoverschelde	ENI-MOL	s.t.
4	Juan Van Heerden	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
5	Giacomo Nizzolo	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
6	Matti Manninen	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
7	Lionel Coutinho	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
8	Jens Keukeleire	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
9	Michael Matthews	Compal-Merida	s.t.
10	Ben King	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
11	Roger Kluge	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	s.t.
12	Sonny Colbrelli	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	s.t.
13	Dan McLay	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
14	Boy Van Poppel	Oberfranken	s.t.
15	Adel Barbari	Oberfranken	s.t.
16	Soufiane Haddi	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
17	Krisztian Lovassy	ENI-MOL	s.t.
18	Lars Van der Haar	Delvaux	s.t.
19	Jempy Drucker	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
20	Suleiman Kangangi	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
21	Marildo Yzeiraj	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
22	Patrik Tybor	Compal-Merida	s.t.
23	Eugert Zhupa	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
24	Maris Bogdanovics	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
25	Kim Magnusson	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
26	Csaba Palyi	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
27	Sascha Modolo	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
28	Gasper Katrasnik	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
29	Jake Keough	Oberfranken	s.t.
30	Gediminas Kaupas	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
31	Martin Mahdar	Compal-Merida	s.t.
32	Thibaut Pinot	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
33	Marvin Orlando Angarita	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
34	Benedikt Mundle	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
35	Daniele Ratto	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
36	Wouter Wippert	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
37	Barry Markus	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
38	David Veilleux	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
39	Stanislav Zaraliev	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
40	Mateo Frankovic	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
41	Ermin Van Wyk	Oberfranken	s.t.
42	Romeo Quicibal	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
43	Hussein Manfred	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
44	Matti Breschel	Compal-Merida	s.t.
45	Zisis Soulious	Oberfranken	s.t.
46	Romain Hardy	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
47	Mikiel Habtom	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
48	Gregory Hugentobler	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
49	Jonas Vangenechten	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
50	Carlos Quintero	Oberfranken	s.t.
51	Michel Kreder	Delvaux	s.t.
52	Ole Haavardsholm	Compal-Merida	s.t.
53	Tom Meeusen	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
54	Syver Waersted	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
55	Miguel Angel Lopez	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
56	Julian David Arredondo	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
57	Federico Rocchetti	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
58	Leszek Plucinski	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
59	Roman Kreuziger	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
60	Marco Zanotti	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
61	Arnaud Grand	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
62	Eduardo Colon	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
63	Oliver Naesen	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
64	Mustafa Carsi	BNZ Cycling Team	s.t.
65	Miha Poljanec	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
66	Evert Verbist	Delvaux	s.t.
67	Francisco Lasca	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
68	Ralf Matzka	BNZ Cycling Team	s.t.
69	Mihkel Räim	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	s.t.
70	Egidijus Juodvalkis	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
71	Marco Guillén	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
72	Jose Luis Cano	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	s.t.
73	Christoph Taubel	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
74	Mantas Blekevicius	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
75	Filippo Rocchetti	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
76	Pavel Potocki	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
77	Kevin Eeckhout	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
78	Salvador Moreno Hernandez	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
79	Abel Kenyeres	ENI-MOL	s.t.
80	Jonas Gregaard	ENI-MOL	s.t.
81	Rob Partridge	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
82	Alvaro Hodeg	Delvaux	s.t.
83	Emils Liepins	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
84	Enzo Wouters	Delvaux	s.t.
85	Masatoshi Oba	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
86	Neil Van der Ploeg	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
87	Songezo Jim	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
88	Husain Al Basri	Control Team	s.t.
89	Davide Ballerini	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
90	Omer Goldstein	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
91	Izidor Penko	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
92	Dmitri Medvedev	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
93	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
94	Marco Minnard	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
95	Shaun Lewis	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
96	Ryan Gibbons	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
97	Oumaru Minoungou	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
98	Vladimiras Kokorevas	DK Zalgiris	s.t.
99	Michal Kukrle	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
100	Bryan Salas	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	s.t.
101	Valentin Stoenchev	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
102	Zachary Hughes	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
103	Stefan Hristov	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
104	Carlos Baltazar	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
105	Valerio Agnoli	Eddie Stobart	s.t.
106	Max Losch	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
107	Rui Oliveira	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
108	Vincenzo Albanese	Campari - Super Dry	s.t.
109	Charles Matte	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
110	Troels Vinther	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
111	Cristian Cominelli	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	s.t.
112	Enzo Moyano	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
113	Erdenebayar Daspuntsag	BNZ Cycling Team	s.t.
114	Mujtaba Hussein	GCN ProTeam	s.t.
115	Alain Quispe	Equinor Pro Cycling	s.t.
116	Daniel Ruiz	ENI-MOL	s.t.
117	Nikolay Mihaylov	Adastra - Argon 18	s.t.
118	Muhamma Afif Ahmad Zamri	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
119	Miles Olman	Sauber Petronas Racing	+ 3'12
120	Fabian Cancellara	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
121	Ole Hirschlein	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
122	Nick Bain	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
123	Uladzimir Harakhavik	Compal-Merida	s.t.
124	Sandor Szalontay	ENI-MOL	+ 3'39
125	Sabelo Mngometulu	Control Team	s.t.
126	Aleksi Hänninen	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
127	Dragan Jasovic	Control Team	s.t.
128	Aviv Yechezkel	Valio - DeLaval	+ 4'16
129	Kristian Aasvold	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
130	Kari Brynjolfsson	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
131	Romain Feillu	Delvaux	s.t.
132	Marc Machado	ENI-MOL	s.t.
133	Risto Aaltio	Valio - DeLaval	s.t.
134	Bauke Mollema	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
135	Sandis Eislers	Oberfranken	s.t.
136	Fabien Grellier	Delvaux	s.t.
137	Kiel Reijnen	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
138	Steele Von Hoff	BNZ Cycling Team	s.t.
139	Constantinos Thymides	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
140	Luka Mezgec	Swisslion Cycling Team	s.t.
141	Igor Boev	Telia-Brussels Airlines	s.t.
142	Jonathan Camargo	Banco de Bogota	s.t.
143	Narankhuu Baterdene	BNZ Cycling Team	s.t.
144	Luke Mudgway	BNZ Cycling Team	s.t.
145	Miguel Afonso	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
146	Marc Gasa	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	s.t.
147	Maximilian Beyer	Oberfranken	+ 5'18
148	Federico Olei	Sauber Petronas Racing	s.t.
149	Campbell Flakemore	BNZ Cycling Team	s.t.
150	Franck Bonnamour	Andorra Project - InGamba	s.t.
151	James Curry	Eddie Stobart	+ 5'50
152	Nick Reddish	BNZ Cycling Team	+ 8'42
153	Nikola Lefkov	Team Cerveceria Costa Rica	+ 10'36