BiciRace.com :: 2005 Paris-Tours

2005 Paris-Tours, Report

Paris-Tours, France

9 October, 253.5K

Zabel One Last Time For T-Mobile

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Zabel Scores Third in Tours, photo: T-Mobile

Erik Zabel has ended his 13 year run at T-Mobile on a high note by winning the 99th Paris-Tours. The German stuck it out over the closing côtes and then came to the front at the precise moment to seal his third victory on l'Avenue de Grammont. Just missing out on victory, by 300 meters, was the escape duo of Philippe Gilbert (Française Des Jeux) and Stijn Devolder (Discovery Channel).

Sunshine greeted the rides at the departure for the long run to Tours. The fall classic is usually one for the sprinters but the côtes at the end always play havoc. The race got serious after the second sprint (at 66K) when Joost Posthuma (Rabobank) and Iván Gutiérrez (Illes Balears) went clear. A little later the duo were joined by Agritubel rider, Stéphane Berges.

Early Escape Trio, photo: Rabobank

The trio got to the business of building up a huge advantage, 8'20" at 145K remaining. Agritubel was doing great business by having Berges in the escape, his chances of making the finish were damn near impossible, but the TV time was great. In the peloton Crédit Agricole and Davitamon-Lotto were doing pace work and keeping the gap in range. At one point they had the escape too close and put on the breaks, preventing the trio from being reeled in too early. At 100K to go the escape was at 5', when earlier it had been down to 2'20".

Peloton In France, photo: Rabobank

Soon after the slopes of the Côte de la Pagode de Chanteloup, at 50K to go, the trio was dusted. After spending a hard 144K out in front of peloton their time was over. Illes Balears was helping make pace, but missing was the pink squadra of T-Mobile. The team seemed to have no organization, and a Zabel victory looked highly doubtful.

The kilometers ticked by before the Belgian duo of Gilbert and Devolder went full throttle. They went free with 27K and three more côtes remaining. Their work was tough, very tough. They succeeded in maintaining an advantage of around a minute over the peloton for almost all of the remaining kilometers. K after K it did not look like the duo would make it to Tours in front of the peloton. When they reached the Avenue de Grammont (just under 3K) they had about 25".

Zabel Tops Sprint Royale, photo: Lampre-Caffita

The duo now appeared free to win the race. Devolder looked like the possible winner, he was smartly sticking to Gilbert's wheel. The Française Des Jeux rider was forced to start the sprint with the peloton closing. Disco Devolder had nothing left to come around but it did not matter because soon duo were swamped in the sprint. Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) went long on the left and Bennati and Zabel came up the right. The young Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Caffita) almost had the sprint but Zabel used his experience to edge past.

Happy Zabel, photo: T-Mobile

It was an amazing ride by Zabel, who seemed to be without team support. Paris-Tours was his last race of the season and it ended on a high note. It was also his last race of his 13 years with T-Mobile, next year he rides for Milram. A third Paris-Tours win for Zabel was an excellent way to depart his German employer.

Results: 5:37'23", 45.082 K/h
1 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile
2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
3 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros-Würth
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto
5 Alberto Ongarato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
6 Aurélien Clerc (Swi) Phonak
7 Julian Dean (NZl) Crédit Agricole
8 René Haselbacher (Aut) Gerolsteiner
9 Uros Murn (Slo) Phonak
10 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi
11 Stefan Van Dijk (Ned) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
12 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Team CSC
13 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel
14 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quick-Step
15 Lars Michaelsen (Den) Team CSC
16 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Davitamon-Lotto
17 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC
18 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
19 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Gerolsteiner
20 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Illes Balears
21 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
22 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Rabobank
23 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
24 Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC
25 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française Des Jeux
26 Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Quick-Step
27 Constantino Zaballa (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
28 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française Des Jeux
29 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2R Prévoyance
30 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis
31 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner
32 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank
33 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Phonak
34 Roy Sentjens (Ned) Rabobank
35 Rony Martias (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
36 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank
37 David Etxebarria (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
38 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Illes Balears
39 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis
40 Sven Renders (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
41 Franck Renier (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
42 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner
43 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi
44 Benoît Salmon (Fra) Agritubel
45 M.Angel Martin Perdiguero (Spa) Phonak
46 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole
47 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Rabobank
48 Nicolas Inaudi (Fra) Cofidis
49 Frank Hoj (Den) Gerolsteiner
50 Roger Hammond (GBr) Discovery Channel
51 Angelo Furlan (Ita) Domina Vacanze
52 Bingen Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis
53 Rafael Nuritdinov (Uzb) Domina Vacanze
54 Angel Gomez (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
55 Gregory Rast (Swi) Phonak
56 Christophe Kern (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
57 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC
58 Guennadi Mikhailov (Rus) Discovery Channel
59 Matej Jurco (Slo) Domina Vacanze
60 Benjamin Levecot (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences
61 Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Française Des Jeux
62 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
63 Patrick Calcagni (Swi) Liquigas-Bianchi
64 Frédéric Guesdon (Fra) Française Des Jeux
65 José Vicente Garcia (Spa) Illes Balears
66 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Discovery Channel
67 Isidro Nozal (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
68 Andreas Klier (Ger) T-Mobile
69 James Vanlandschoot (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
70 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
71 Angel Edo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
72 Steffen Wesemann (Swi) T-Mobile
73 Guido Trenti (USA) Quick-Step
74 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
75 Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank
76 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Cofidis
77 Jan Hruska (Cze) Liberty Seguros-Würth
78 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick-Step
79 Renaud Dion (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences
80 Grégory Habeaux (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
81 André Korff (Ger) T-Mobile
82 Rolf Aldag (Ger) T-Mobile
83 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) Discovery Channel
84 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
85 Kevin Hulsmans (Bel) Quick-Step
86 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Discovery Channel
87 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis
88 Eric Baumann (Ger) T-Mobile 0.13
89 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.15
90 Marco Velo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
91 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 0.18
92 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
93 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 1.25
94 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 1.41
95 Mickaël Delage (Fra) Française Des Jeux
96 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Domina Vacanze
97 Mickaël Buffaz (Fra) Agritubel
98 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française Des Jeux 1.47
99 Jérémy Roy (Fra) Française Des Jeux
100 Mauro Gerosa (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi
101 Nicola Loda (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi 2.26
102 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Liquigas-Bianchi
103 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.39
104 Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Fassa Bortolo
105 Chris Horner (USA) Saunier Duval-Prodir
106 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Domina Vacanze
107 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Illes Balears
108 Matthé Pronk (Ned) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
109 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
110 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir
111 Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
112 Jan Boven (Ned) Rabobank
113 Johan Verstrepen (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
114 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
115 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick-Step
116 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
117 Björn Leukemans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 2.44
118 Mark Scanlon (Irl) Ag2R Prévoyance 2.56
119 Frédéric Gabriel (Fra) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech 3.19
120 Ben Day (Aus) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
121 Gorka Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
122 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
123 Vicente Reynes (Spa) Illes Balears
124 Hubert Dupont (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences
125 Mikel Pradera (Spa) Illes Balears
126 Franck Bouyer (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
127 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) Française Des Jeux
128 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Crédit Agricole
129 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2R Prévoyance
130 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Crédit Agricole
131 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis
132 Stefano Zanini (Ita) Quick-Step
133 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto 4.35
134 Mario Aerts (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
135 Eric Berthou (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences 6.10
136 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
137 Leif Hoste (Bel) Discovery Channel
138 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Phonak
139 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo
140 José Iván Gutiérrez (Spa) Illes Balears
141 Benoît Poilvet (Fra) Crédit Agricole 6.26
142 Wim De Vocht (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
143 Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank
144 Guillaume Auger (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences
145 Joan Horrach (Spa) Illes Balears
146 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences
147 Christophe Riblon (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
148 Ludovic Martin (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences
149 Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Agritubel
150 Yohann Gene (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
151 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) Agritubel
152 Laurent Mangel (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance
153 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole
154 Sascha Urweider (Swi) Phonak
155 Joseba Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
156 Ignacio Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak
157 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
158 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Agritubel
159 Bart Dockx (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
160 Cédric Coutouly (Fra) Agritubel
161 Erwin Thijs (Bel) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
162 Kurt Van De Wouwer (Bel) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
163 Cristian Bonfanti (Ita) Domina Vacanze
164 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
165 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
166 Carlos Barredo (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth
167 Mathieu Criquielion (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
168 Giosuè Bonomi (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 10.04
169 Aketza Peña (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 11.30
170 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis 13.04
171 Johan Coenen (Bel) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
172 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile
173 Arkaitz Durán (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir
174 Marco Milesi (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi
DNF Thomas Bruun (Den) Team CSC
DNF Stéphane Berges (Fra) Agritubel
DNF Jens Renders (Bel) MrBookmaker-Sports Tech
DNF Jurgen Van Loocke (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
DNF Anton Luengo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF David López García (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Iker Flores (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Simone Cadamuro (Ita) Domina Vacanze
DNF Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
DNF Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre-Caffita
DNF Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas-Bianchi
DNF Luca Paolini (Ita) Quick-Step
DNF Francesco Bellotti (Ita) Crédit Agricole
DNF Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile
DNF Volodimir Bileka (Ukr) Discovery Channel
DNF Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner
DNF Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC
DNF Lénaïc Olivier (Fra) Agritubel