Paris - Tours Elite 2025

October 12, 2025 The character of Paris-Tours has changed over the years but it still marks the end of the professional road season in France. The race starts and finishes in two of the great cathedral towns in France, Chartres and Tours. There is only 1,200M of climbing on the route but the main feature over the last few years has been the inclusion of gravel sectors and short climbs near the end of the 211KM race. The first sector comes with 65KM to go with eight more to follow, the last of which comes 10KM from the finish for a total of 9.5KM of gravel. The sectors are known in this race as Chemin de Vigne because they are the access roads through the Chenin Blanc vineyards of the Indre-et-Loire. Five riders were in the break with 72KM to go on the approach to the first gravel sector. The group consisted of Jordan Labrosse of Decathlon AG2R, Johan Jacobs of Groupama-FDJ, Jonas Rutsch of Intermarché-Wanty, Hartthijs De Vries of Unibet-Tietema Rockets, and Kenny Molly of Van Rysel-Roubaix. They had just 90 seconds on the peloton which was spread across the road in a fight for position. Visma-Lease a Bike had taken control with Lotto and Tudor Pro Cycling holding their position in the rows behind. Labrosse had a mechanical shortly before the first sector and with the gap to the peloton being so short, he wasn't able to get the issue resolved in time to get back into the break away. Fortunately for the riders, the weather was clear with beautiful blue sky so when they arrived at the first gravel sector of Limeray, it was dusty and fast. The bunch was together through Limeray but attacks started after the sector which split the peloton. The splits were stitched together on a longer stretch of paved road and the bunch calmed for a few kilometers as Visma-Lease a Bike took control with Tudor Pro Cycling and Lidl-Trek. The gap to the break was just 20 seconds at the start of the Côte de Goguenne with 49.5KM remaining. Decathlon AG2R ripped up the climb with Dorian Godon and caught the break as the gravel started on the Grosse Pierre sector. Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling rode on the front across Grosse Pierre and pulled a group of around 15 riders clear but once again, the move was closed down and the peloton was now around 60 riders. After the Côte du Bois de Chançy and the subsequent gravel sector of Chançy à Reungy, the group was trimmed to no more than 40 riders with 39KM to go. The peloton took a collective breath after Chançy à Reungy which gave Paul Lapeira of Decathlon AG2R a chance to attack. He was joined by Tours native Thibaud Gruel of Groupama-FDJ and the pair built a 20 second lead. With each passing sector, fewer and fewer riders remained in the peloton. Accelerations from Lidl-Trek brought the gap to Gruel and Lapeira to under 10 seconds by the start of the next sector with 28KM to go. Teammates started to become scarce for leaders and the gap extended back out to 20 seconds. Decathlon AG2R had three riders in the peloton which discouraged an organized chase and with 20KM to go, the gap was up to 35 seconds. The race was getting away from the rest of the favorites group and it was Christophe Laporte of Visma-Lease a Bike that attacked to make a motivated selection. A small group of Mathias Vacek and Albert Withen Philipsen of Lidl-Trek, Stefan Bissegger of Decathlon AG2R, Trentin, and Laporte formed with about 15KM to go. Bissegger sat on but the other four were able to chip away at the gap, down to 18 seconds with 12KM to go at the start of the final gravel sector of Rochecorbon. Directly after the sector came the last climb of the day, the Côte de Rochecorbon. Laporte put in the effort which was good enough to distance Vacek but the other three were clinging tight. At the top with 8.5KM to go, Gruel and Lapeira had just 10 seconds. At 4KM to go, the gap was still just over 10 seconds as the groups were in full team pursuit. At 1,100M to go, Lapeira decided to not come through to take a pull and Gruel wasn't going to just sit on the front. The stalemate allowed the four chasers to catch on with 800M to go. Bissegger went straight to the front to lead out Lapeira with Gruel in third wheel followed by Philipsen, Laporte, then Trentin. Gruel came out of the slipstream first but Trentin had a quicker jump and the group was nearly all in a straight line across the road with 150M to go. Gruel faded as did Lapeira but a late run from Laporte came up on Trentin's left. It was too late however because Trentin hit the line first to take his third win at Paris-Tours in his career. Laporte finished second with Philipsen taking third place and Lapeira in fourth. He and Decathlon AG2R would likely have been pretty disappointed with the outcome given the prime position he was in during the final kilometer.