And he succeeded! Nacer Bouhanni completed the classic distance with a staggering time of 2 hours 34 minutes and 36 seconds. It may be surprising that an ex-sprinter would set such a fast time in the marathon, but all things considered, the sprinters in road cycling are of course endurance athletes who still have a good finish.
To give you an idea of how great perforamnce it was,
WielerRevue lists that the fastest time on maraton course set by ex-pro cyclist is 2 hours 26 minutes of Leonardo Calzavara who raced for few smaller Italian teams in late 90s. A more well-known name Adam Hansen, the current head of CPA, clocked a time of 2 hours 30 minutes.