The 2011 Paris–Tours was the 105th edition of this single day road bicycle racing event.

Greg Van Avermaet Greg Van Avermaet (born 17 May 1985) is a Belgian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . Considered one of the most versatile riders of modern cycling, Van Avermaet is a specialist of the classic cycle races, but has also ...

outsprinted Marco Marcato in the final meters to stay out of the grip of the chasing group and peloton. Van Avermaet thereby won the biggest race of his career so far.

Course

The course saw the introduction of a new finale; the construction of a tram line on the Avenue de Grammont in central

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

led to the organisers shortening the finishing straight by 2.4 km. The new finish led to suggestions that the traditional sprint finish could be hampered, as there would be less time for the peloton to chase down any breakaways after the final climb.

Pre-race favourites

Given the race's status as the "Sprinters' Classic", several sprinters were named among the favourites. Among them,

Mark Cavendish Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...

, fresh off his world road race title in Copenhagen, reigning champion

Óscar Freire Óscar Freire Gómez (born 15 February 1976) is a former Spanish professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the top sprinters in road bicycle racing, having won the world championship three times, equalling Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbe ...

, 2007 winner

Alessandro Petacchi Alessandro Petacchi (born 3 January 1974) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 1996 and 2015. A specialist Cycling sprinter, sprinter, Petacchi has won 48 Grand Tour (cycling), grand tour stages ...

and

Romain Feillu Romain Feillu (born 16 April 1984) is a French former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2006 and 2019. He is the older brother of Brice Feillu, who also competed professionally as a cyclist. Career Feillu was born in Chât ...

were considered favourites. 2008 and 2009 champion Philippe Gilbert was enjoying a successful season, being ranked first in the

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an ann ...

rankings and looking to claim his 19th victory of the season. Despite not being a sprinter, the changes to the route were suggested as being to his advantage – the final climb of the Côte de l’Epan seven kilometres from the end, followed by a winding descent from the climb and a shorter run-in on the Avenue de Grammont were mentioned as various factors which could prevent the traditional sprint finish. Other candidates for a breakaway victory were Sylvain Chavanel,

Thomas Voeckler Thomas Voeckler (; born 22 June 1979) is a French former road racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2017, for the team and its previous iterations. One of the most prominent French riders of his generation, Voeckler has b ...

and

Frédéric Guesdon Frédéric Guesdon (born October 14, 1971) is a French former professional road bicycle racer who competed as a professional between 1995 and 2012, most notably for UCI ProTeam , spending 16 years of his career with the team. Guesdon was born in ...

Race

The race departed from

Voves Voves () is a former commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in central France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Les Villages Vovéens. The early breakaway of the day was soon formed, and composed of seven riders:

Rubens Bertogliati Rubens Bertogliati (born 9 May 1979 in Lugano) is a Swiss retired road racing cyclist, whose breakthrough came in the 2002 Tour de France, when he was riding for the Italian team. In 2012, he rode for , and ended his career at the end of the sea ...

(),

David Boucher David Boucher (born 17 March 1980) is a Belgian road cyclist, who currently rides for Belgian amateur team Acrog–Tormans. Personal life Midway through the 2013 season, Boucher – previously a French rider – became a naturalised B ...

(), Will Clarke (),

Sébastien Delfosse Sébastien Delfosse (born 29 November 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2018 for the and teams. He has also worked as a directeur sportif for Belgian amateur team Pesant Club Lié ...

(),

Jurgen Van Goolen Jurgen Van Goolen (born 28 November 1980 in Leuven, Flanders), is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. He rode the Vuelta a España eight times, and the Giro d'Italia two times during his career, serving mostly as a domestique. On f ...

(),

Andreas Klier Andreas Klier (born 15 January 1976) is a retired German professional road racing cyclist. He competed professionally between 1996 and 2013. Klier moved into a managerial role with his final professional team, , after announcing his retirement a ...

() and

Rony Martias Rony Martias (born August 4, 1980 in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe) is a French road bicycle racer for the UC Cholet 49 amateur team. Martias previously competed as a professional between 2003 and 2013, for the and squads. After folded at the end ...

(). The group were allowed a gap of over 11 minutes before the peloton began working to reduce the gap, and it was caught shortly after the 170 kilometre mark. But no sooner had it been caught than several riders seized the opportunity to attack – a group of 14 including

(),

László Bodrogi László Bodrogi (born 11 December 1976 in Budapest, Hungary) is a former Hungarian and French professional road bicycle racer, specializing in the individual time trial. Biography László was born in 1976 in Budapest, Hungary. His fathe ...

(),

Mickaël Delage Mickaël Delage (born 6 August 1985) is a French former professional road and track cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Libourne, Delage participated at the World Track Championships in Moscow in 2003 as a junior, where he w ...

(),

Arnaud Gérard Arnaud Gérard (born 6 October 1984 in Dinan, Côtes-d'Armor) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2018 for the and teams. The cousin of former professional cyclist Cédric Hervé, Gérar ...

(), Kasper Klostergaard (), Marco Marcato () and

Ian Stannard Ian Dexter Stannard (born 25 May 1987) is a British former professional track and road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2020 for the , and teams, before retiring after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. He now wo ...

() managed to create a gap to the peloton. The lead grew to around two minutes before HTC-Highroad began the chase to set up a sprint finish, but the breakaway riders were able to cooperate and keep the peloton at bay. After Cavendish began feeling fatigued, HTC gave up the chase. The gap remained steady until 19 kilometres from the end, when a group led by Philippe Gilbert split from the main pack. Despite creating a small gap, they did not manage to catch up to the leading breakaway of the day and were eventually reeled back in by the peloton. Sylvain Chavanel also tried his luck but struggled to pull away. The first move from the leaders came from Gérard, 14 kilometres out, and he stayed away on his own for a time. Van Avermaet and Marcato made a joint move in the final ten kilometres; working together they caught and passed the Frenchman on the final climb of the Côte de l'Epan. The two pulled away from the rest of their breakaway companions, despite Delage's efforts to bring teammate Gérard back into contact with them. Klostergaard attacked the remainder of the breakaway with two kilometres to go and created a gap, but was unable to catch up with the two leaders. With one kilometre left the group of two held an advantage of 20 seconds, and were left to sprint against each other for the victory. Marcato began his sprint first, with Van Avermaet on his wheel, but quickly slowed after his leg cramped up. Van Avermaet sprinted past him to take the victory, his 4th of the season. Marcato finished two seconds back, with Klostergaard holding off Stannard and Bodrogi for third. The rest of the top ten was rounded out by other members of the telling 14-man breakaway, while the peloton came home over a minute down.

General standings

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 Paris-Tours

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Paris–Tours Paris-Tours Paris-Tours