2020 Paris-Tours – Highlights, Report, Results
Highlights
Report
Today’s racing at Paris-Tours began under raining skies, with the overcast conditions set to stay for the rest of the day, only adding to the difficulty of the race. With a predominantly flat route until the final 50 kilometres where the hills and gravel roads started, the team took control at the head of the race after the morning breakaway had formed.
With the aim of heading into the finale with Søren Kragh Andersen, Joris Nieuwenhuis and Casper Pedersen all to the fore, Leon Heinschke, Martin Salmon and Niklas Märkl did well to keep the breakaway in check and ultimately bring them to within touching distance. Unfortunately, Kragh Andersen was involved in a crash just as the peloton hit the climbs, and would no longer feature at the front of the race. On one of the many short ramps, Pedersen rode strongly to follow a move by Consefroy and the duo broke clear of the ever diminishing peloton.
The duo forged on, with Nieuwenhuis riding well to cover the attacks, himself riding well to make a counter attacking group of five. With 15 kilometres to go the gap between Pedersen’s and Nieuewenhuis’ groups stood at 25 seconds, with Nieuwenhuis acting as the perfect anchor.
As a result, the chase group weren’t able to close down on Pedersen and Cosnefroy, setting up an intense two-up sprint in the finale. Using his lead out and track skills, Pedersen took the sprint on from the front, kicking expertly in the closing few hundred metres to take a magnificent win. Behind, Nieuwenhuis rounded out a brilliant day by claiming an excellent third place after some great team tactics.
Results
| 1 | Casper Phillip Pedersen (Den) Team Sunweb | 4:51:44 |
| 2 | Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | |
| 3 | Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ned) Team Sunweb | 0:00:30 |
| 4 | Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
| 5 | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic | |
| 6 | Petr Vakoč (Cze) Alpecin – Fenix | |
| 7 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R la Mondiale | |
| 8 | August Jensen (Nor) Riwal Readynez | 0:02:11 |
| 9 | Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Circus-Wanty Gobert | |
| 10 | Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ |