Christophe Laporte wins under Paris-Tours chaos - "It was a difficult season"

Christophe Laporte has spent a lot of the season working as a domestique in Team Visma | Lease a Bike, but when he got his own freedom he has managed to thrive. At the Olympic Games he rode to the final podium and again in France today, the home rider managed to take a strong win at Paris-Tours under difficult weather conditions.

"I hadn't won for a while. The Olympic Games were fantastic, I was very happy with that. But for the rest, it was a difficult season,," the Frenchman admitted. "Today, however, I was very motivated. I finished the race in the best possible way". Edoardo Affini was part of the day's breakaway and was part of the team's strategy. He was joined by Mads Pedersen, but Visma didn't have to do any work behind with their rider in front; instead Laporte managed to take advantage of rival teams' work.

"He (Pedersen, ed.) went from very far away. It is always difficult to ride on the gravel sections and Alpecin-Deceuninck controlled everything at that moment". With around 30 kilometers to go Laporte made the jump from the peloton, at the ideal time. I made a big effort to get back to Edo (Edoardo Affini, ed.) and Pedersen. I got Vacek with me. He was very strong.”

Affini did some work for the Frenchman, who then also managed to drop Pedersen after his strong effort. It was down to Laporte and Vacek in the final kilometers, but the Czech rider didn't take advantage of his outsider status and put pressure on Laporte. In a head-to-head sprint, the victory was not too difficult.

“I started my sprint at the right moment and managed to finish it. I am very happy. It was a long, tough day with a beautiful finale," he concluded.