Paris–Tours 7 Oct 211 km

[Aguirre]

this is not Paris-Tours, a pity

Too much gravel me thinks

 

[sir fly]

Just looking at the names in the groups shows the effects of the change in course.

 

[Velolover2]

Wow the parcours are nice. Make the race a bit longer and we have a reborn 6th monument.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Wow the parcours are nice. Make the race a bit longer and we have a reborn 6th monument.

Make it 240, slap WT on it. Job done. Emilia and MT should also be WT, juice that week up.

 

[Laplaz]

Aaand Andersen gone

 

[Velolover2]

Re: Re:

Wow the parcours are nice. Make the race a bit longer and we have a reborn 6th monument.

Make it 240, slap WT on it. Job done. Emilia and MT should also be WT, juice that week up.

100% agree. The spring calender is too heavy compared to the amount of autumn classics in the World Tour.

 

[sir fly]

Glad to see Gilbert has recovered really well from the injury.

 

[franic]

Is there any streaming website to watch the race?

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Wow the parcours are nice. Make the race a bit longer and we have a reborn 6th monument.

Make it 240, slap WT on it. Job done. Emilia and MT should also be WT, juice that week up.

100% agree. The spring calender is too heavy compared to the amount of autumn classics in the World Tour.

Spring isn't necessarily too heavy, but nobody starts a season planning to peak in the last races of the season. Ofcourse riders are gonna be tired, but I tend to think that Lombardia and the Worlds often aren't quite enough to keep the season interesting. That's why you need to incentivize those slightly lesser races. One day races are THE perfect format for late season.

 

[sir fly]

Kragh Andersen pulled his move perfectly.
Congratulations.

 

[Red Rick]

When Terpsrtra is around, better attack early

 

[wirral]

Horrible sprint by Cosnefroy, he may have got overexcited and shot his load. Terpstra cruised past him with a "Who the **** are you" look.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Very likable win and winner......

 

[Cance > TheRest]

That was funny watching Terpstra yell at Cosnefroy. The dude is crazy sometimes

I think Kragh was the strongest, though, so a great winner

 

[Alexandre B.]

That was a very great race.

Some vine roads need some rework or to be ditch but that was a nice change. Also great scenery.

 

[Simurgh]

Unprofessional race and behaviour by Terpstra. I'm sorry to say that I'm happy to see him lose, but even happier to see Kragh win! Great race, but I felt that I had to get used to this new Paris-Tours with the gravel roads and all. Considering the entertainment we got today, I think this will be easy.

 

[RedheadDane]

How many people can they get onto that podium?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

1 Søren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) 4:37:55
2 Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step Floors) +0:25
3 Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R La Mondiale) +0:25
4 Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale) +1:14
5 Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) +1:14
6 Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal) +1:14
7 Sep Vanmarcke (Education First-Drapac) +1:14
8 Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) +1:14
9 Taco van der Hoorn (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) +1:24
10 Jos van Emden (LottoNL-Jumbo) +1:24

A very powerful top 10.

 

[Valv.Piti]

The young and danish classic men are going to have a great year next year. I have always thought that Kragh is the most talented out of those due to his versatility, but Valgren has surprised me a bit and Pedersen has the best and most old school mindset about cycling which also will get him very far (especially in Flanders and Roubaix, the long races). Very nice to follow these riders atm.

 

[Krokro]

No matter what he's won, Terpstra is such a disgrace. I've never liked his behavior and today proved me right. Great to see SKA rob this one, totally deserved.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

The young and danish classic men are going to have a great year next year. I have always thought that Kragh is the most talented out of those due to his versatility, but Valgren has surprised me a bit and Pedersen has the best and most old school mindset about cycling which also will get him very far (especially in Flanders and Roubaix, the long races). Very nice to follow these riders atm.

Yeah. It's been pretty fun being a Danish cycling fan this year!

One thing I personally found kind of funny about Kragh's attack was the fact that he didn't use the fact that the other two were arguing in one side of the road to sneakily attack in the other side.
He literally went right between them!

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

No matter what he's won, Terpstra is such a disgrace. I've never liked his behavior and today proved me right. Great to see SKA rob this one, totally deserved.

What did he do today that was out of line?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Nothing. People are overreacting. Terpstra is an ass but what he did today is just racing..

 

[Leinster]

I think Terpstra was overreacting to Cosnefroy. The guy had bridged up to the break, but had his team leader chasing behind. Ok, they were unlikely to come back, but that doesn't mean he's obliged to work now. But I wouldn't call Terpstra a disgrace, he's also entitled to be upset that there's a passenger along in the break.

I think Kragh would've won that race no matter who did or didn't work in the trio, he was clearly the strongest on the day.

An entertaining race, but as I said before, while P-T is constantly struggling for its identity, it will struggle for recognition as a true classic, and this was a completely different race to what we saw in recent years; and we have had good racing in recent years. Even the long finish straight was shorter this year.

 

[Robert5091]

Chapeau SKA! Madouas puts in another good ride.

The new ending? I'd give it another year so everyone knows now what to expect.