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It was a surprise winner of the 2023 edition of Paris-Tours, with stagiaire Riley Sheehan (Israel Premier Tech) part of a late attack that bridged to the lone survivor of the early breakaway, with the 5-man group holding on to contest the sprint for victory in Tours.
Sheehan proved the fastest of the group with tired legs, outsprinting Askey and Johannessen to take the biggest win of his career. Sheehan, 23, is a stagiaire with the team, looking to secure a professional deal, with the 1.Pro-level race a very successful tryout for the American.
“This is special, this is everything," said Sheehan. "This could be a big start for me, having a big win like this in a special race is phenomenal. I’m speechless.
“It was brutal [the finish], I knew at 2km to go that we were just about to make it and I was able to give some wheels away and I was in perfect position."
“When the Auber-Michel guy [Delbove] went I knew that was the perfect wheel to jump off and I didn’t look back after that.”
There was a maximum gap of four minutes for the early breakaway of Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Joey Rosskopf (Q36.5), Maxime Jarnet (Van Rysel - Roubaix Lille Métropole), Axel Narbonne Zuccarelli (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur) and Theo Delacroix (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93).
Askey found himself off the front of the race after drifting off the front with a hard turn of pace, he was brought back by his former companions, but by the 42-kilometre mark, Askey went again by sheer dint of excess power on the others, and this time he wasn’t waiting around.
A group of attackers sprang out of the peloton, John Degenkolb (DSM-firmenich) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) foremost among the dangerous group, but they were reabsorbed into the peloton, with plenty of further aggression following on the narrow, windings road of the Loire valley vineyards.
Askey forged a solo path at the head of the race, with the dusty sections of the unpaved roads seeing the riders heading through obscuring clouds on the technical sections, but the peloton continued to gradually close the gap.
Askey’s teammate Olivier le Gac covered a move with 25 kilometres to go that eventually bridged to the young British rider, with Tobias Johannessen (Uno-ProX), Riley Sheehan (Israel Premier Tech) and Joris Delbove (St Michel - Mavic - Auber93) the others to join the head of affairs. With 10 kilometres to go, the gap was just 24 seconds, but the five riders worked well while their teammates disrupted chase efforts from the much-reduced peloton behind.
Within the final kilometre, it was clear that the break would contest the sprint finish, with le Gac riding hard at the head of the move to ensure the continued momentum all the way to the finish. Delbove opened up the sprint first, but it was Sheehan who took over the lead quickly, the stagiaire able to hold off Askey’s fast finish to win the race, with Johannessen third.
The peloton thundered over the line nine seconds behind, with Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) leading the bunch home for sixth on the day.
Paris-Tours also served as the final race in the storied careers of Tony Gallopin and Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) with the pair retiring at the conclusion of the 213km race. Gallopin threw away his glasses as he crossed the finish line.
Van Avermaet closed his career at one of the races that began his winning ways at the top of the sport, Paris-Tours 12 years ago being the scene of a significant win for the Belgian star.
