Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) won Paris-Tours on Sunday ahead of Franck Bonnamour (B&B Hotels) and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo).
He is the first French winner of Paris-Tours since 2006, when Frédéric Guesdon claimed victory.
The win was Demare’s ninth victory in 2021, who came into the season with a string of wins in the spring, but did not win a stage at either the Tour de France or Vuelta a Espana.
“I’m really happy, it’s a lot of emotion,” Demare said. “We know what I have been going through lately, no success, not the legs I wanted, today was a really ideal day. It was a sprint to the finish, I really didn’t want to miss out.
“We stayed for a long time with Stuyven at 10 seconds behind the two riders, we were all in it together. Finally we get in, I take the initiative to close the gap. I threw everything I had into it and it worked. I’m very happy.”
