The 110th Paris-Tours Elite took place in France on Sunday with a sprint finish ending the long day. It was the last European race of the 2016 season for Team KATUSHA and the riders were active all day.

Near the end of the 252,5km course from Dreux to Tours, team riders Sergey Lagutin attacked with 10km to go but was caught, setting the scene for the mass sprint finish won by Fernando Gaviria of Etixx-QuickStep.

- Our sprinters did a good race and tried to be in the mix. When Gaviria attacked it was KATUSHA who took responsibility to chase him. Marco Haller and Jacopo Guarnieri tried to do a long sprint but in the end missed the result, - said sports director Gennady Mikhaylov.

Gaviria outsprinted Arnaud Démare of FDJ and Jonas van Genechten of IAM Cycling with a winning time of 5:22:03 (47.042 km/h). The best results from the team were Aleksandr Porsev and Guarnieri who just broke the top 20.  

Young Alexander Maes, 23, has been riding as a trainee for the team since September and was part of the Paris-Tours squad. Director Mikhaylov liked what he saw from the Belgian rider.

- Maes was very good. He helped his other teammates a lot during the entire day and proved he has a bright future, - said Mikhaylov. 

Photo credit © Tim De Waele