Chaves hangs on for Abu Dhabi Tour triumph, Trentin wins Paris-Tours

Orica-GreenEdge’s Colombian Esteban Chaves took his first professional stage race win Sunday when he hung on to the Abu Dhabi Tour lead grabbed on Saturday’s queen stage. Elia Viviani (Italy/Sky) took the day’s spoils for the second time in three stages. Meanwhile, in France, Matteo Trentin (Italy/Etixx-QuickStep) triumphed in the Paris-Tours race, the penultimate Classic of the season.

The final stage of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Tour took place on the F1 racing circuit in Yas Marina, with the riders negotiating 20-laps of 5.5-km. Three escapees including sixth place Gianluca Brambilla (Italy/Etixx-QuickStep) spent most of the day up front, with live GoPro footage being broadcast on TV for the first time.

With 20-km to go, the trio had devolved into a duo that had 33-seconds over the group. With just over 3-laps remaining, the race came back together, but not for long as Australian William Clarke (Drapac) and one-time Tour de France contender Francisco Mancebo (Spain/Skydive Dubai) rushed up the road.

But it was all for naught as the race entered the bell lap together. Viviani, who won Stage 2, found the lead out and line that he wanted to once more nip world champion Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff-Saxo) for the victory.

As Paris-Tours rolled through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys, an enormous breakaway of 30-riders found an 18-man chase trying to bridge over with under 100 of the 231-km remaining. Everyone had the pedal to the metal, with an average speed of 51-km/h over 126-km.

With 42-km to go the leading mob–down to 24 and referred to as Group Arnaud Démare (FDJ)–was the still 2:45 ahead of chasing Group Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), and the peloton had surrendered. Démare had compatriot Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) and Greg van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC) to worry about. Bouhanni was unhappy that the man leading him in the UCI Europe Tour rankings, Edward Theuns (Belgium/Topsport Vlaanderen), was in the breakaway.

On the third to final hill, the Côte de Crochu, a couple of escapees peeled away from the others, but strong work from Gianni Meersman (Belgium/Etixx-QuickStep) brought them back with 12-km remaining. On the Côte de Beau Soleil van Avermaet attacked with three others and by the peak of the final climb, the Côte de l’Epan, the Belgian had only Trentin and compatriot Tosh van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal) as his main rivals.

The trio held a 28-second gap heading into the final 2-km. Van Avermaet was taken out of the picture by an untimely puncture, so it came down to Trentin and van der Sande, looking for his first professional victory. But it was Trentin who seized the day and took his fourth win of the season.

Trentin’s son took it in stride.

Giovanni Trentin says "Well done, daddy!" @MATTEOTRENTIN #ParisTours #OurWay pic.twitter.com/yH1yREPl0y

— Etixx – Quick-Step (@Etixx_QuickStep) October 11, 2015

2015 Abu Dhabi Tour Stage 4
1) Elia Viviani (Italy/Sky) 2:22:43
2) Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff-Saxo) s.t.
3) Andrea Guardini (Italy/Astana) s.t.

2015 Abu Dhabi Tour Final GC
1) Esteban Chaves (Colombia/Orica-GreenEdge) 13:13:55
2) Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) +0:16
3) Wouter Poels (The Netherlands/Sky) +0:27

109th Paris-Tours
1) Matteo Trentin (Italy/Etixx-QuickStep) 4:39:12
2) Tosh van der Sande (Belgium/Lotto-Soudal) s.t.
3) Greg van Avermaet (Belgium/BMC) +0:04