Paris-Tours

Voves to Tours, 230.5km/143mi

By Cathy Mehl

A sprint from a successful two-man breakaway gave Belgian Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) the finest win of his career.  Patiently waiting to spring in the closing meters, Van Avermaet attacked Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM), coming from behind to win in Paris-Tours with plenty of daylight between them.  Third place at 15-seconds belonged to Kasper Klostergaard (Saxo Bank-Sungard).

Team RadioShack’s Geoffroy Lequatre took seventh in the third group to cross the finish line at 22-seconds behind Van Avermaet.  Teammate Robbie McEwen led home the group another minute later.

It was a day of attacks with an original break caught with more than 50km to go, setting off a flurry of action in the last part of the race.  The best times came from a group of 20 which included Lequatre.  They held off the peloton and gave Van Avermaet and Marcato a platform for making their decisive move.

Only one race remains on the 2011 racing calendar for Team RadioShack, next Saturday’s prestigious Tour of Lombardy.  Be sure to check back for information on the final race as The Shack wind down an extremely successful season of racing with more than 30 victories.  Go Shack!

Top Ten Results

1              Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team   5:21:43  

2              Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team    0:00:02  

3              Kasper Klostergaard Larsen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard     0:00:15  

4              Ian Stannard (GBr) Sky Procycling                              

5              Laszlo Bodrogi (Fra) Team Type 1 - Sanofi Aventis                              

6              Mickaël Delage (Fra) FDJ     0:00:22  

7              Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Team RadioShack                            

8              Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Leopard Trek                           

9              Roy Curvers (Ned) Skil - Shimano                               

10            Arnaud Gerard (Fra) FDJ

Team RadioShack Results

19           Robbie McEwen (Aus)  0:01:23  

82           Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) 0:07:25

Photo courtesy of Graham Watson