Paris-Tours: Riley Sheehan sprints to win from late move on gravel sections

Just two months into his stagiaire stint with Israel-Premier Tech, Riley Sheehan took his biggest European pro victory by sprinting to the win in the prestigious Paris-Tours race.

The American went with a late move over the gravel and climbing sections in the latter stages of the race, and then outpowered his breakaway companions as they evaded the chasing peloton in the finishing straight.

Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) took second after a day out front, whilst Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) took third, after his team had set up the move.

In the final 30km of racing, the four attackers joined Askey, the sole survivor of the day-long breakaway, and the then-five leaders managed to hold off a slightly disorganised peloton all the way to the line in Tours.

It was Olivier Le Gac who led things out for teammate Askey, but the tired Brit couldn’t quite come round Sheehan, who wins on his debut at this race.

“This is special, this is everything,” Sheehan said at the finish. “This could be a big start for me, having a win like this at a special race is phenomenal. I’m speechless right now.

“For the race, we just had to stay up front. We knew there were no crazy crosswinds or anything, so [we had to] stay as calm as possible into the dirt sections and the hills, and then there stay in the front and make sure our sprinters were in good positions. For me, it was to follow the moves on the hills, and it came out good for me in the end.”

Late breakaway disrupts the sprinters’ hopes in France

Heading out of Chartres on Sunday morning, it was a relatively calm start to the 213km Paris-Tours. The day’s breakaway took quite a long time to establish, but once it did go after 40km, the peloton let the break enjoy a comfortable lead. The five riders who made up the day’s move were Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Théo Delacroix (St Michel-Auber 93), Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), Maxime Jarnet (Van Rysel-Roubaix Lille Métropole) and Axel Narbonne Zuccarelli (Nice Métropole Côte d’Azur).

The break was allowed to quickly build up a lead of almost four minutes, and the situation remained stable for much of the race as the riders traversed the straightforward roads towards Tours, with the climbing and gravel only coming later in the route. There was little change for over 100km, as the break and peloton alike prepared for the important run-in to Tours.

Hitting the first gravel section and the first small climb, the action kicked off almost immediately, with the break starting to split up and attacks starting to fly off the front of the peloton, though none stuck for a particularly long time.

Meanwhile, a flat tyre for Arnaud De Lie saw him have to chase back onto the peloton at an inopportune moment, but then a second puncture forced him out of the race completely, opening up the competition with one of the main favourites out.

As most of the breakaway slowly dropped away and the gap fell, Lewis Askey emerged as the strongest rider, pushing on solo into the final 45km of racing, a minute ahead of a chasing group made up of Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-EasyPost), Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) and Thomas Gachignard (St Michel-Auber 93).

With 31km to go, the charging peloton caught the three chasers, leaving just Askey up ahead alone with four more gravel sections to go. Clément Russo (Arkéa Samsic) was the next rider to try and attack from the peloton, taking Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) with him. The attacks were perhaps a sign of no singular team wanting to take it on, but Uno-X did then start chasing, shutting down the Russo and Theuns move with 27km to go.

The acceleration from Uno-X forced a split in the peloton, as groups started to emerge all over the road. A group of four established itself as the chasers, containing Olivier Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ), Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X), Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech) and Joris Delbove (St Michel-Auber 93). Behind, the peloton regrouped, but there was still a lack of cohesion to chase down the riders out front.

However, Askey’s lead was shrinking, and he was caught by the chasers with 10km to go, after a big pull from his own teammate Le Gac. The five leaders then held a 24-second lead ahead of a disorganised peloton. It still looked touch-and-go heading into the final few kilometres, but under the flamme rouge it looked clear that the leaders would take the victory. Le Gac led things out for Askey, but it was Riley Sheehan who opened up the most powerful sprint, holding off a clearly tired Askey to take the victory, his first on European soil.

Askey took second, whilst Johannessen finished third, a perhaps disappointing result for the Uno-X team who had done the bulk of the work to bring back riders and set up the race-winning move in the finale.