Suffering from a urinary tract infection, Pierre-Luc Perichon told his teammates that he was unlikely to go on after the feed zone in the Paris-Tours. Amazingly, the in-form Frenchman ended the race in 8th.

Pierre-Luc Périchon created a sensation by taking eighth in Paris-Tours yesterday. Never before had he classified so good in a 1.HC race. The most amazing is that he was ill, suffering from a urinary tract infection.

"The start was very difficult," he said. "After 10 kilometers, I told the guys on the team that they needed to use me now because I wouldn't continue after the feed zone. But the Ibuprofen given by the medical car took away the pain and the first four hours of racing in the tailwind were not too difficult."

Everything was made harder by the rain

"There were a lot of crashes but I had luck to always be well placed and I did not have much work to do," he said. "There were a lot of splits but always behind me. That's how I made ​​the right group. Eighth in Paris-Tours is really unexpected!"

He still had to be strong in the finale that came after 238km of racing.

"I felt the distance during the sprint. I was 6th in the the 25-rider group behind Wallays and Voeckler that we never caught. But I had more freshness than the others.

The result rewards a rider who was very active at the end of the season. The same goes for Anthony Delaplace who was also in the right group but got a scare in a corner 10km from the finish and lost contact.

"We had our share of crashes," said sports director Emmanuel Hubert. "Especially Romain Feillu but I'm not sure he was on a great day."

Nonetheless, almost the entire Bretagne team finished the race, apart from Vegard Laengen who suffered a mechanical in the finale.