Arnaud Demare went into Paris-Tours as one of the big favourites but the Frenchman never got the chance to sprint for the victory. Lots of bad luck took out most of his teammates, meaning that two riders from the early breakaway stayed away.

With 6 wins in the last few weeks, Arnaud Demare had marked himself out as an obvious favourite for Paris-Tours. Hence, it was no surprise that his FDJ team had to do most of the chase work behind the early breakaway.

On slippery roads, however, the Frenchmen were hit by lots of bad luck which meant that Demare only had Yoann Offredo at his side in the final 15km. This made it possible for the early break to stay away, ending the season in a disappointing way for the French champion.

" We quickly started to chase," says manager Mark Madiot. "But we only got help from Giant-Shimano. Other teams looked at us. On the wet roads, there were many punctures. For our part, we had seven, two for Anthony Geslin. There were also a lot of crashes and we have not been spared. Yoann Offredo, Laurent Pichon and Mickael Delage all hit the deck and all of them complained of slipping even when riding in a straight line.

"Now it's time for vacation for everyone and unless a nice surprise comes from our riders in the last two stages of the Tour Beijing, our score will be end at 29 wins this season. This is pretty good."