A flat front tyre took Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing) out of the reckoning in Paris-Tours, despite the Belgian making the race-winning move.
Van Avermaet had been present in all the major breaks of the day, including the final attack that saw Matteo Trentin (Etixx Quickstep) Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), and the BMC Racing rider go clear.
The trio looked set to decide the race between themselves in an even sprint but with just over 1,300 metres to go Van Avermaet drifted to the back of the group and called for assistance. It was clear he had a problem and when Trentin started his race-wining sprint Van Avermaet was forced to sit up. Van der Sande took second with Van Avermaet drifting over the line in third.
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"At first, I thought maybe I could still sprint because I did not flat directly," he said in a team statement. "But in the final corner, I felt it was going to be tricky. When they started sprinting, it was already totally flat and my race was over."
BMC Racing Team Sport Director Yvon Ledanois said there was no time to change the wheel.
"If we change the wheel, Greg doesn't get top three and he gets nothing. He was just not lucky. For sure, he had the legs to take the win today."
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