John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) continued his fantastic late-season run of success when he won today's final major classic, Paris-Tours. In a thrilling finale where Jetse Bol (Belkin) was caught less than 500m from the finish, the German powered clear of his rivals to take a convincing win ahead of Michael Mørkøv (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Arnaud Demare (FDJ).

John Degenkolb had a bad spring season where he perennially missed out in the sprint finishes but like last year, the German has found his best legs for the final part of the season. Today he added the second big classics to his palmares that already includes this year's Vattenfall Cyclassics when he won the big sprint race, Paris-Tours.

Degenkolb had showed his strength when he had made it into a very strong group of classics riders that escaped on the penultimate climb Cote de Beau Soleil but his presence spelled the end for the cooperation in that group. Jetse Bol (Belkin) set off on his own and the Dutchman quickly built up a big gap.

Argos-Shimano and FDJ organized their troops and started to chase hard and in a heartbreaking finish, the young Dutchman was caught less than 500m from the line. Instead, the big autumn classic was set to be decided in a sprint finish for the first time since 2010.

Mickael Delage gave Arnaud Demare the perfect lead-out and opened the sprint from a perfect position. However, Degenkolb was well-placed on his wheel and when the German put down the hammer, the outcome was never in doubt. Degenkolb took a very convincing win while Mørkøv did a good sprint to take 2nd.

The win brings Degenkolb's season to an end and marks the conclusion of a fantastic final half that has also included wins in the Vattenfall Cyclassics and Paris-Bourges and two stage wins in the Tour de l'Eurometropole. For most riders, today's race marked the end of the year but a few of them will be back in action on Tuesday in the Nationale Slutingsprijs in Belgium.

An old classic

The 107th edition of the old Paris-Tours classic brought the major European races to a close on a 235km course that started in Authon-du-Perche and ended in Tours. As usual the course was mostly flat but three small climbs inside the final 30km were the perfect launch pads for attacks.

Early on, a 4-rider group managed to separate itself from the peloton as Sebastian Lander (BMC), Yannick Martinez (La Pomme Marseille), Julien Duval (Roubaix) and Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM) got clear. As it is often the case in Paris-Tours, they were allowed to build up a very big gap of a massive 11.35.

The chase gets organized

As expected, it was Degenkolb's Argos-Shimano and Demare's FDJ that took responsibility for the chase as they asked Tom Stamsnijder and Laurent Mangel to up the pace. Those two riders combined forces to gradually bring the gap down and with 84km to go, the gap was only 5 minutes.

A headwind made it difficult for the escapees who cooperated well and made it easy to stay in the peloton. This clearly enhanced the chance that the race would end in a bunch sprint.

Garmin-Sharp start to chase

With 75km to go, Tyler Farrar showed his intentions when he asked his Garmin-Sharp teammate Martijn Maaskant to take a share in the pace-setting duties and for some time, he swapped turns with Mangel and Stamsnijder on the front while the pace gradually came down. He finished his work but was quickly replaced by Bryan Nauleau (Europcar) who was trying to set up a sprint finish for Bryan Coquard.

While Mangel, Stamsnijder and Nauleau led the peloton, the gap continued to fall while the battle for position clearly intensified. With 39km to go, Omega Pharma-Quick Step and FDJ went head to head to get first into a left-hand turn and it was the French team that came out on top. Their riders Laurent Pichon and Benoit Vaugrenard did a good  job to keep the pace high as they approached the Cote de Crochu.

The attacks start

Warren Barguil hit the front for Argos-Shimano but he was quickly replaced by Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) who prepared an attack from his teammates. As soon as they hit the climb, Niki Terpstra attacked with Kris Boeckmans (Vacansoleil) on his wheel but Yoann Offredo (FDJ), Guillaume Van Keirsbluck (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Farrar, Degenkolb and Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) all marked it closely.

A very aggressive phase ensued where numerous attacks were launched. Pieter Serry (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin), Terpstra, Lars Boom (Belkin), Chavanel, Silvan Dillier (BMC), Ramon Sinkeldam (Argos-Shimano), Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol), Offredo, Bol were all part of the action but no one managed to separate themselves from the peloton.

The front group splits up

With 24km to go, Duval accelerated from the front group and this was too much for Lander who got dropped. Meanwhile, a big crash brought down Coquard, Jens Debusschere (Lotto Belisol) and Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil) who were all some of the favourites, and Coquard and Debusschere had to use a lot of energy to get back to the peloton.

Vanmarcke, Martin Velits (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Cyril Lemoine (Sojasun), Sinkeldam and a BigMat rider got clear and they quickly caught Lander. Meanwhile, Saramotins attacked from the front group and he set off on his own while Duval and Martinez were both picked up by their chasers.

FDJ in control

FDJ now started to chase hard and with 16km to go, Matthieu Ladagnous took a hard turn on the front that brought the chase group back into the fold. IAM now took control with Marcel Aregger despite the fact that their rider Saramotins was still up the road.

Riders from Bretagne, IAM and Ag2r attacked and they were joined by Maarten Wynants (Belkin). However, Barguil and Mickael Delage (FDJ) both started to chase hard and they quickly caught that group. With 12km to go, Saramotins was also back in the fold.

Marcato attacks

Argos led the peloton onto the Cote de Beau Soleil with 10km to go where defending champion Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil) launched a strong attack. He was joined by Vanmarcke, Degenkolb and Mørkøv but the latter exploded. He fell back to a chase group that consisted of Chavanel, Bol and Demare.

Degenkolb and Vanmarcke decided to wait for their chasers and a little later Marcato was also back in that group. Meanwhile, BMC started to chase with Swiss champion Michael Schär.

Van Avermaet bridges across

When they hit the Cote de l'Epan with 8km to go, Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) attacked and he quickly bridged across to the front group. Boom also got across just as his teammate Bol set off on his own.

Coquard fell off the pace in the peloton while more riders - including Terpstra - joined the group that was now in pursuit of Bol. However, there was no cooperation and so they were caught with 4km to go.

Argos-Shimano chase hard

Argos-Shimano now started to chase hard with Roy Curvers and Reinhardt Van Rensburg but Bol was 13 seconds ahead. As the Dutch team seemed to run out of power, BigMat and FDJ decided to lend a hand with the latter using Yoann Offredo to set a pace.

Jonas Aaen (Saxo-Tinkoff) attacked in the final corner and got a slight gap over the peloton. FDJ hit the front with their lead-out train and caught both Aaen and Bol with less than 500m to go. Delage gave Demare a perfect lead-out but the Frenchman had no response to Degenkolb's burst of speed and had to settle for 3rd.

Result:

1. John Degenkolb 5.29.19

2. Michael Mørkøv

3. Arnaud Demare

4. Tyler Farrar

5. Michael Van Staeyen

6. Heinrich Haussler

7. Samuel Dumoulin

8. Ion Aberasturi

9. Ioannis Tamouridis

10. Niki Terpstra