The riders gather here in Chartres prior to 234km of racing through to Tours. We should have a Peloton sprint but there will be many teams and riders looking to throw a spanner into the works and upset the favourites.
Talking about favourites, Eislers was highlighted in the preview due to his stamina and resistance and the bookies have listed him as the Top Favourite alongside Degenkolb who is the best outright sprinter and Rowe who isn't quite as strong in the sprints but he and Andersen are likely to have the extra energy to put a sprint in at the end of such a long day of racing. We'll see how this one plays out.
The riders are moving and the crowds are out in their droves to see the riders off on their journey today. The weather looks to be fine but we'll see if that continues as the day goes on.
As expected, we see a lot of riders trying to make their way into the move that sticks.
34km into the day and we have our breakaway. The following 12 riders have made the cut and currently have a gap of 4'05 to a very cruisey Peloton. Champousin, Hibatullah Rubio Nzeke Cannister, Kulppi Rachid Elosegui Schomber Mostov Dumoulin Spengler
Many teams sharing the workload at the front of the Peloton. They've upped the pace somewhat as the gap to the breakaway is a manageable 3'40 with 160km still to go.
Our 12 leaders will need to pick up the pace as they still have 120km of racing remaining but their gap has come down another minute to 2'40.
The Peloton making slower gains now, maybe not wanting to make the catch too early. 80km to go and the gap is 2'14.
Some of the breakaway are sensing that the end is nigh and so we see some aggression. Their lead is down to 1'17 with 45km to go.
25km now to go. As the Peloton is close to making the catch they are moving at some speed and this is really stretching out the Peloton which is fracturing. Not looking too good for quite a few riders here actually!
The catch is made as Spengler was the last to be surpassed. It looks like the groups are coming back together with still 16km to go.
11km to go and we start to see some attacks! It's Wisniowski who is going off the front on his own. Nych, Yzeiraj and Katrasnik are also trying to get away but EA Vesuvio are keeping the pace as high as possible in the 105 man Peloton.
9km to go now and Wisniowski has managed to get away and has a 28 second gap. Nych is somewhere in the middle. Sagiv is left to do the chasing in the Peloton.
An incredible pace up the incline from Sagiv means the duo are caught with 7.5km to go.
3km to go now and very little organisation going on here. Degenkolb is actually in front of his lead-out men and no one really wants to set the pace.
It's Ulissi who then goes to the front with 2km to go. He has his team leader, Van der Lijke on his wheel. Behind the Dutchman are Degenkolb, Eislers, Groenewegen and Lo Cicero. Other sprinters are just behind the Italian.
Has he gone to early here? Van der Lijke launches the sprint with 1km to go. Lo Cicero has also started from deep and is bringing Kemboi, Rowe and Reinhardt along for the ride.
700m now and Van der Lijke still just in the lead but Degenkolb is catching him. Those coming from behind are moving a bit quicker too!
300m to go and Van der Lijke is still in the lead but he is not only under threat from Degenkolb but also Eislers who is moving quickly on his left shoulder.
100m and it's going to go all the way to the line here!! It's actually Degenkolb who is JUST ahead!
It's John Degenkolb who wins this one by centimetres!
Van der Lijke just holds off Eislers for 2nd. The experienced Lo Cicero is 4th.
Very close for 5th but Groenewegen just edges out Kemboi. Rowe is 7th.
Samalenkov came from fairly deep for 8th.
Reinhardt is 9th and it's very close in the battle for 10th but Zabel is the man to round out the Top 10 ahead of Andersen and Hsu. Other notable sprinters include Van Poppel in 14th, Silvestre 16th and Coutinho 18th. Van der Sande, Van Asbroeck and Enger will be disappointed as they are 21st, 22nd and 23rd.
Even worse for Kragh Andersen and Boeckmans who don't even finish in the first group.
But it's time to celebrate! The winner of Paris Tours is John Degenkolb! His team did a lot of the work to ensure that this was decided by a sprint and he rewards them in the best way possible. He is joined on the podium by Van der Lijke whose team was heavily involved throughout and Eislers who will be happy with 3rd place.
Paris Tours - Race Report 
