It rarely happens in Paris-Tours, but Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) managed to do it today: to win the Classic of the falling leaves two times in row!
He beats his compatriot Tom Boonen (Quick Step) on the finish line.

Almost immediately after the start, after 9 kilometers, a leading group is formed by 10 riders. In this leading group we find Laszlo Bodrogi (Team Katusha), Cédric Pineau and Martin Elmiger (AG2R La Mondiale), Matthieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux), Damien Gaudin (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Mathew Hayman (Rabobank), Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne-Schuller), Aart Vierhouten (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team, who did his last race today), Jonathan Thiré (Auber 93) and Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano).
The 10 manage to create a gap of up to 7'45" with the peloton.

At about 50 kilometers from the finish one of the big favourites of this 103rd edition of Paris-Tours, André Greipel (Columbia-HTC), falls. The rider who could have won the combination Paris-Bourges / Paris-Tours decides to leave the race.

The same goes for
- Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel) who did the last race of his professional career today but who was ill and tired and thus also had to give up
- Guennadi Mikhailhov (Team Katusha) who falls at 44 kilometers from the finish and is taken to the hospital, probably with a broken right collar bone

After a 20 kilometer long solo by Laszlo Bodrogi, it's up to Jonathan Thiré to leave the leading group, close to Amboise, but he's also taken back by the 9 other riders in the leading group. At 28 kilometers from the finish Thiré tries again but again without success.

In the climb of the Côte de Crochu at a bit more than 25 kilometers from the finish the leading riders accellerate and Martin Elmiger, Laszlo Bodrogi, Jonathan Thiré and Damien Gaudin can no longer follow the pace.

At 12 kilometers from the finish the Dutch rider Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano) attacks: he accellerates quite quickly and manages to create a small gap with the 5 riders who remain from the leading group.
In the climb of the Côte de l'Epan it's up to Greg van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) to attack, immediately followed by Tom Boonen (Quick Step). They quite easily get back on Tom Veelers and Philippe Gilbert who sees that this is the decisive attack manages to close the gap and join his team mate. Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) does the same. Van Avermaet abandons the attack and the remaining trio is composed of ... three sprinters who have all shown this year that they're able to win a race in the sprint.

Last year's winner, Philippe Gilbert, attacks just before the finish and does this by completely going to the left side of the road, to oblige his opponents to do the same. He manages to stay ahead: Tom Boonen doesn't manage to get back on him and hits disappointed with his hand on his handlebars while Borut Bozic finishes 2 seconds later.

The top 10

Below you'll find the 10 first riders of the classification for Paris-Tours 2009:
1/ Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) - 5h 12m 23s
2/ Tom Boonen (Quick Step)
3/ Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) - +0'02"
4/ Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha) - +0'16"
5/ Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
6/ Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-NGC)
7/ Gerben Löwik (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team)
8/ Pablo Lastras (Caisse d'Epargne)
9/ Martin Reimer (Cervélo TestTeam)
10/ Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux)

In the race for Espoirs Mathieu Halleguen of the Côte d'Armor Cyclisme team manages to win the race.

The pictures of the start in Chartres

This morning I was at the start of Paris-Tours 2009 in Chartres. You can view my photos by clicking on the link below:
> Watch all photos of the start of Paris-Tours 2009 in Chartres

The images of the last few kilometers

The video below shows the last few kilometers:

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Cycling general (except Tour de France) | Paris-Tours

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