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. |