After his overall win in Tour de l'Eurometropole, Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r) was an outsider for Paris-Tours. The Frenchman was there when 31 riders got clear early in the race but surprisingly dropped back on the final climbs before returning strongly in the final few kilometres. It turned out that cramps had cost him the chance to win the classic.

"It went very fast," he told L'Equipe. "I felt that it hurt, it was tense. Then after 5km, I said to myself: ''you have to recover''. I was dropped on the second climb (10 km from the finish), I suffered from cramps. I didn't panic. I got back to the group but the three (Trentin, Van der Sande and Van Avermaet) were gone. I still insisted."

In the end, Gougeard ended 17th.