Much love for the PCT in the bookies mind! They reward the good physical condition of Rowe or Ahlstrand by putting them up in the favorites list, right next to the world champion, Gaviria.
The weather is good In Chartres at the foot of the cathedral, and the attacks begin right on, even though there are 233 km to be ridden today!
Soon enough, the sprinters’teams take control of the race at the front of the pack with Bovenhuis, Brunel, Arissol, Parashchak, Bolivar, Polnicky, Elissonde, Fiedler and Suryadi.
Meanwhile, there are 12 men ahead of the pack, though they are not together yet:
– Dieteren, Covi, Rubio and Khederi lead the race;
– Then we have Vandevelde, Pellaud, Gall and Mugisha.
– Behind are Gillett and Otruba.
– Finally, the last attackers are Novikov and Potocki.
The peloton already is 2 minutes behind the head of the race.
193 km left. The gap is up to 4’15, but the peloton probably won’t allow more, with many teams chasing.
In the break, Mugisha, Gall and Potocki don’t take any relay.
We fast forward to the 100 km mark, in the flat plains of France. The gap is up to 2’30. The peloton controls the race without too much trouble, as the main difficulties of the day are quite close to the end.
Another fast forward, and we are under the 50 km mark. Gillett and Pellaud feel the breath if the peloton on their neck, so they attack!
Their adventure doesn’t last long, ad the gap only is 1’03 now. Behind the leaders, there are some splits in the pack. Quite a surprising scene at the front, with Baroncini working and all the main sprinters behind him.
At the front, Potocki, Pellaud, Mugisha and Gall have 12 seconds on the 8 others. 24 km to go, the favorites are 30 seconds behind.
16 km to go, and the break is caught by a 70 men group. Silvestre, Liu, Howard and Bouhanni are one minute behind.
ISA takes the lead to fight the incoming attacks.
In the first steep hill though, they can’’t catch a group of three: Wohler, Bernas and Arashiro. Van der Hoorn tries to bridge the gap.
10 km left, and Sagiv brings everyone back. The ISA train gets a small gap. 2 bikes behind, we have Grosu and Gaviria, and then Ahlstrand and Varga.
5 km. Ewan only has Baska in front of him, and that doesn’t feel right.
3,4 km left, and another attack by Nych, Arashiro and Bernas!
Veyhe and Wohler followed, the 5 have a 12 seconds gap, and there is nobody to chase in the pack!
Vesely took matters in hand, and on the left, Degenkolb is leading Ewan out.
Flamme rouge! Degenkolb has a gap. Wohler follows Ewan, the other sprinters are behind.
600 m. Ewan has a small gap. Ahlstrand is on his left, Vesely and Gaviria are on the right. Grosu and Demare are fighting for space on the back.
400 m. Ewan is done for, Gaviria is the fastest for now.
200 m. The race will play between Gaviria and Ahlstrand.
It’ll be a photofinish decision…
And it’s a victory for the World Champion! Gaviria wins the 2022 Paris-Tours!
Another tight fight for the 3rd place…
Grosu is judged better than Demare, who “only” takes 4th. Groenewegen is 5th.
Coutinho is 6th, Zabel 7th.
Bonifazio, a courageous Vesely and Minaly round off the top 10, while ISA will be disappointed with a 14th place for ISA.
“...the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably."
A. Roy
