Gilbert repeats Paris-Tours win ahead of Boonen

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Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) won his second consecutive Paris-Tours on a beautiful autumn day in France on Sunday. The Belgian took sweet revenge on his compatriot Tom Boonen, who pipped him for the Belgian championship title earlier this year, by hitting out early with 300m to go from a lead group of three.

Boonen (Quick Step) held on for a frustrating second place ahead of Slovenia's Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil). Katusha's Filippo Pozzato led the main chasing group home for fourth.

"I saved myself just until the end," said Gilbert. "When I attacked, I picked my spot perfectly, it was a planned spot."

"When I am in a position like that, I am confident and so I was not afraid of Tom Boonen."

The three formed their winning move with the help of Gilbert's teammate Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto), who attacked with 7 kilometres to race, just ahead of the Côte de l'Epan. The move drew out Boonen, allowing Gilbert to chase up to his teammate with Bozic.

His leader safely ensconsed in the winning break, Van Avermaet dropped back to the chasing bunch. Ahead, Gilbert expertly bided his time over the final two climbs, doing just enough work to fend off the chase of the Italian champion Pozzato, but keeping enough in reserve for the sprint.

His explosive effort with 300m to go caught Boonen off-guard, and Gilbert cruised to the victory with a bike length to spare.

The fall sprinters' classic ran from Chartres, southwest of Paris, to Tours, over 230 kilometres. It included three small climbs (côtes) in the final 10 kilometres: Côte de l'Epan, Côte du Pont Volant and Côte du Petit Pas d'Ane.

An escape group formed after 25 kilometres containing Martin Elmiger, Cédric Pineau (AG2R La Mondiale), Mathieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux), Damien Gaudin (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Jean-Luc Delpech (Bretagne-Schuller), Jonathan Thiré (Auber 93), Mathew Hayman(Rabobank), Aart Vierhouten (Vacansoleil), Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano) and Laszlo Bodrogi (Katusha).

The 10-man group had 7'15" over the main group with 132 kilometres to race.

Belgian teams Silence-Lotto and Quick Step brought the escape's advantage down to 52 seconds by 30 kilometres to race. Only Veelers remained, with 17 seconds, at the start of the final 10 kilometres.

The aggression of Van Avermaet spelled the end of Veelers' time up front, and the Skil-Shimano man had nothing left to give as the leading trio blasted by.

The chasing peloton was disrupted by a crash involving Rabobank's Mathew Hayman. German sprinter and favourite André Greipel (Columbia-HTC) pulled out near the halfway point because he was suffering from flu-like symptoms.

Gilbert won the race last year in a similar manner ahead of Belgian Jan Kuyckx and Frenchman Sébastien Turgot.