2016 Paris-Bourges (1.1), France

66th edition: Thursday, October 6, 2016

Paris-Bourges podium history | 2015 edition | 2017 edition | Course map and profile

Gien - Bourges, 193.7 km (Gien is about 65 kilometers south of Paris)

It was a photo-finish. Sam Bennett (top) just beat Alexander Porsev (bottom, in red kit)

The Race: Here's the story from winner Sam Bennett's Bora-Argon 18 team:

After taking the second stage of the Giro della Toscana about a week ago, Sam Bennett had to skip some races due to a bronchitis. A fall back in his build up to the World Championships in Doha. But today he came back with an impressive win straight away.

The 66th edition of Paris-Bourges was 190k long between Gien and Bourges. The course is hilly but also known for tricky crosswind sections. Still, like Paris-Tours, it is a race for the sprinters.

From the beginning Cofidis made clear that they wanted the race to fininsh in a bunch sprint for their fast man N. Bouhanni. Nevertheless, a five men break - Jauregui (AG2R), Gesbert (Fortunéo), Helven (Topsport), Centrone (Differdange) und Iversen (Giant U23) – was allowed to go clear from the peloton. But the bunch never let them extend their lead to more than 4 minutes.

Also BORA – ARGON 18 worked on the front of the peloton to position Sam Bennett well, which did pay off when already with more than 100k to go the peloton split in two. While also the breakaway group split up with 40k to go, the peloton was also further reduced at the same time.

After the remaining two breakaway riders Jauregui (AG2R) and Gesbert (Fortunéo) were caught, everything was setup for a bunch sprint out of about 60 riders. BORA – ARGON 18 was still present in this group also with Zak Dempster and Scott Thwaites, so Sam Bennett had his key lead-out riders still with him. This proved to be the key to success and Sam Bennett repeated his victory from last year after a photo finish against A. Porsev (Katusha).

“It was really a hard race today. I was sick for 6 days and after the start of the race I didn’t feel good. But I knew it would be like that today and I also knew the course from last year, so we were always up front when the crosswind did play a role. Silvio (Herklotz) and Pfingsti (C. Pfingsten) really worked a lot throughout the day for me. In the end I still had Zak (Dempster) and Scott (Thwaites) who did a perfect job as well. Two corners before the finish I was at the wheel of Bouhanni. Coquard was also there and tried to push him a little, both had to break then and I came around them outside. On the home straight a waited really long before I pushed hard. In the end I just got Prosev be a few millimetres. I did not expect that at all today, therefore it is even more satisfying now.” – Sam Bennett

Complete Results:

193.7 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.668 km/hr

1	Sam Bennett	Bora-Argon 18	4hr 38min 55sec
2	Alexander Porsev	Katusha	s.t.
3	Rudy Barbier	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
4	Marc Sarreau	FDJ	s.t.
5	Jacopo Guarnieri	Katusha	s.t.
6	Christophe Laporte	Cofidis	s.t.
7	Romain Feillu	HP BTP Auber 93	s.t.
8	Samuel Dumoulin	Ag2r	s.t.
9	Kristian Sbaragli	Dimension Data	s.t.
10	Roy Jans	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
11	Alo Jakin	HP BTP Auber 93	s.t.
12	Marco Tizza	D'Amico-Bottecchia	s.t.
13	Dries Van Gestel	Topsport Vlaanderen	s.t.
14	Aimé De Gendt	Topsport Vlaanderen	s.t.
15	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Fortuneo Vital Concept	s.t.
16	Ryan Gibbons	Dimension Data	s.t.
17	Martijn Tusveld	Rabobank Development	s.t.
18	Quentin Pacher	Delko Marseille Provence	s.t.
19	Pierre Gouault	HP BTP Auber 93	s.t.
20	Antoine Duchesne	Direct Energie	s.t.
21	François Bidard	Ag2r	s.t.
22	Jimmy Raibaud	Armée de Terre	s.t.
23	Thibault Ferasse	Armée de Terre	s.t.
24	Guillaume Levarlet	HP BTP Auber 93	s.t.
25	Silvio Herklotz	Bora-Argon 18	s.t.
26	Benjamin Thomas	Armée de Terre	s.t.
27	Jimmy Turgis	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
28	Axel Domont	Ag2r	s.t.
29	Sylvain Chavanel	Direct Energie	s.t.
30	Marco Haller	Katusha	s.t.
31	Matthieu Ladagnous	FDJ	s.t.
32	Nacer Bouhanni	Cofidis	s.t.
33	Eliot Lietaer	Topsport Vlaanderen	s.t.
34	Floris De Tier	Topsport Vlaanderen	s.t.
35	Devid Tintori	Differdange Losch	s.t.
36	Thierry Hupond	Delko Marseille Provence	s.t.
37	Cédric Pineau	FDJ	s.t.
38	Guillaume Martin	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
39	Flavien Dassonville	HP BTP Auber 93	s.t.
40	Fabien Doubey	FDJ	s.t.
41	Scott Thwaites	Bora-Argon 18	s.t.
42	Zakkari Dempster	Bora-Argon 18	s.t.
43	Romain Combaud	Delko Marseille Provence	s.t.
44	Stéphane Poulhiès	Armée de Terre	s.t.
45	Thomas Degand	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
46	Thomas Deruette	Wallonie Bruxelles	s.t.
47	Jérémy Leveau	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
48	Geoffrey Soupe	Cofidis	s.t.
49	Yann Guyot	Armée de Terre	s.t.
50	Frederik Veuchelen	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
51	Youcef Reguigui	Dimension Data	@ 13sec
52	Julien Antomarchi	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
53	Ivan Centrone	Differdange Losch	s.t.
54	Bryan Coquard	Direct Energie	s.t.
55	Benoît Vaugrenard	FDJ	s.t.
56	Frederik Backaert	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
57	Elie Gesbert	Fortuneo Vital Concept	s.t.
58	Sergey Lagutin	Katusha	@ 22sec
59	Maxim Belkov	Katusha	s.t.
60	Nico Denz	Ag2r	+26''
61	Adrien Niyonshuti	Dimension Data	s.t.
62	Kévin Ledanois	Fortuneo Vital Concept	s.t.
63	Sébastien Minard	Ag2r	s.t.
64	Leonardo Duque	Delko Marseille Provence	+28''
65	Aritz Bagües	Euskadi Basque Country	s.t.
66	Stéphane Rossetto	Cofidis	s.t.
67	Théo Vimpere	HP BTP Auber 93	+31''
68	Baptiste Planckaert	Wallonie Bruxelles	+34''
69	Angelo Tulik	Direct Energie	s.t.
70	Daniel McLay	Fortuneo Vital Concept	s.t.
71	Vegard Breen	Fortuneo Vital Concept	s.t.
72	Sébastien Delfosse	Wallonie Bruxelles	+47''
73	Cyril Lemoine	Cofidis	s.t.
74	Thomas Voeckler	Direct Energie	+59''
75	Johann Van Zyl	Dimension Data	s.t.
76	Gregory Habeaux	Wallonie Bruxelles	+1' 03''
77	Kevyn Ista	Wallonie Bruxelles	s.t.
78	Jonathan Hivert	Fortuneo Vital Concept	+1' 05''
79	Thomas Boudat	Direct Energie	+1' 16''
80	Tom Dernies	Wallonie Bruxelles	+1' 18''
81	Daniel Hoelgård	FDJ	+2' 27''
82	Quentin Jauregui	Ag2r	s.t.
83	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	+6' 55''
84	Emil Vinjebo	Giant-Scatto U23	+7' 35''
85	Nicola Genovese	D'Amico-Bottecchia	+8' 06''
86	Tom Thill	Differdange Losch	+8' 09''
87	Beñat Txoperena	Euskadi Basque Country	+8' 09''
88	Cederick Raymackers	Differdange Losch	s.t.
89	Marius Therkildsen	Giant-Scatto U23	s.t.
90	Larry Valvasori	Differdange Losch	s.t.
91	Patrick Schelling	Vorarlberg	s.t.
92	Ander Barrenetxea	Euskadi Basque Country	s.t.
93	Jérôme Mainard	Armée de Terre	s.t.
94	Davy Gunst	Rabobank Development	s.t.
95	Florent Pereira	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
96	Kevin Van Melsen	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
97	Francesc Zurita	Vorarlberg	s.t.
98	Julien Duval	Armée de Terre	s.t.
99	Adrián González	Euskadi Basque Country	s.t.
100	Michael Schwarzmann	Bora-Argon 18	s.t.
101	Julien Bérard	Ag2r	s.t.
102	Paolo Ciavatta	D'Amico-Bottecchia	s.t.
103	Ruben Pols	Topsport Vlaanderen	s.t.
104	Giorgio Bocchiola	D'Amico-Bottecchia	s.t.
105	Pietro Di Genova	D'Amico-Bottecchia	s.t.
106	Lorrenzo Manzin	FDJ	s.t.
107	Lukas Pöstlberger	Bora-Argon 18	s.t.
108	Jimmy Duquennoy	Wallonie Bruxelles	s.t.
109	Maxime Renault	HP BTP Auber 93	s.t.
110	Maxime Farazijn	Topsport Vlaanderen	s.t.
111	Alexander Maes	Katusha	s.t.
112	Maxime Vantomme	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
113	Dieter Bouvry	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
114	Sander Helven	Topsport Vlaanderen	s.t.
115	Rasmus Iversen	Giant-Scatto U23	s.t.
116	Evaldas Šiškevicius	Delko Marseille Provence	s.t.
117	Armindo Fonseca	Fortuneo Vital Concept	s.t.
118	Songezo Jim	Dimension Data	s.t.
119	Jay Thomson	Dimension Data	s.t.
120	Bob Olieslagers	Rabobank Development	s.t.
121	Anthony Maldonado	HP BTP Auber 93	s.t.
122	Mark McNally	Wanty-Groupe Gobert	s.t.
123	Jan Maas	Rabobank Development	s.t.
124	Yauheni Hutarovich	Fortuneo Vital Concept	s.t.
125	Dmitry Kozonchuk	Katusha	s.t.
126	Thomas Vaubourzeix	Delko Marseille Provence	s.t.
127	Martijn Budding	Rabobank Development	s.t.
128	Jeroen Meijers	Rabobank Development	s.t.
129	Aitor González	Euskadi Basque Country	s.t.
130	Shane Archbold	Bora-Argon 18	s.t.
131	Mikel Iturria	Euskadi Basque Country	s.t.
132	Mike Diener	Differdange Losch	s.t.
133	Peio Olaberría	Euskadi Basque Country	s.t.
134	Félix Pouilly	Roubaix Metropole	s.t.
135	Iltjan Nika	D'Amico-Bottecchia	s.t.
136	Dylan Bouwmans	Rabobank Development	s.t.
137	Jelle Nieuwpoort	Rabobank Development	s.t.
138	Žolt Dér	Vorarlberg	s.t.
139	Patrick Jäger	Vorarlberg	s.t.
140	Gotzon Udondo	Euskadi Basque Country	s.t.
141	Antonino Parrinello	D'Amico-Bottecchia	s.t.
142	Krisztián Lovassy	Differdange Losch	s.t.
143	Thomas Jensen	Giant-Scatto U23	s.t.
144	Joakim Bukdal	Giant-Scatto U23	s.t.

2016 Paris-Bourges map: