Fernando Gaviria (Quick Step Floors) returns to Paris-Tours this weekend hoping to repeat his victory of last season.
Last year, the awaited bunch sprint was derailed when neo-pro Gaviria made use of his fantastic track skills and attacked 600 metres from home, holding off the world’s elite sprinters and winning Paris-Tours on his way to carving his name in the history books as the first South American winner of this prestigious classic.
Gaviria, who in the 12 months that have passed since that success has established himself as one of the fastest men in the peloton – his four Giro d’Italia stage victories serving as proof in that regard – will now make his second appearance at the French Classic, which this year starts from Brou, a small town in the Eure-et-Loir department.
Paris-Tours will bring down the curtain on the Classics season and the sprinters will line out knowing the route favours them, despite the presence of Côte de Beau Soleil and Côte de l’Epan in the final ten kilometres.
The two short climbs, both hitting double-digit gradients, will more than sure encourage the attackers to make a move, all aware of the fact that it’s their best chance of preventing the race from coming down to a bunch gallop on the iconic Avenue de Grammont, but with so many teams playing everything on the mass arrival card, it will be difficult to go all the way.
Joining 23-year-old Gaviria for the 111th edition of Paris-Tours (234.5 kilometers) will be Rémi Cavagna, Iljo Keisse, Yves Lampaert, experienced lead-out man Maximiliano Richeze, Paris-Roubaix runner-up Zdenek Stybar, Niki Terpstra and multiple Grand Tour stage winner Matteo Trentin, who recently was in action at Binche-Chimay-Binche, where he finished a close second.
Quick Step Floors team for Paris – Tours Elite (FRA) 1.HC
Rémi Cavagna (FRA)
Fernando Gaviria Rendon (COL)
Iljo Keisse (BEL)
Yves Lampaert (BEL)
Maximiliano Richeze (ARG)
Zdenek Stybar (CZE)
Niki Terpstra (NED)
Matteo Trentin (ITA)
