‘I didn’t feel the best’: Hagenes explains how he outsmarted rivals to win Paris-Tours

Per Strand Hagenes revealed that he was far from his best during Paris-Tours, but took advantage of the attention on teammate Christophe Laporte to secure one of the biggest victories of his career.

“During the day I didn’t feel the best, but I just kept on fighting,” Hagenes said in his post-race interview. “Quite often after the climbs I got a little bit back together, and then I think a lot of the guys were watching Christophe. So I could benefit a little bit from that and try to find a good moment, and when I had a gap it’s all in to the line.”

Laporte won this race in 2024 and finished third on Sunday behind Hagenes and Jasper Stuyven. Hagenes succeeds Matteo Trentin on the honours list.

Visma had missed the large morning breakaway, forcing the team to chase and reshaping their approach to the race.

“I think we messed up a little bit in the beginning with not being in the big morning break, but the guys went all out to try to make it so we could still race for the win,” he said. “I really appreciate that work. They were giving it their all out there so me and Christophe could fight for it. I think this is a big team performance today.”

Hagenes bridged across from the chasing group with 15 kilometres remaining before launching his winning attack just before the final kilometre.

The Norwegian has enjoyed success at Paris-Tours before. He won the under-23 edition, Paris-Tours Espoirs, in 2022 after a solo attack in the final 1.5 kilometres, beating Mathis Le Berre in his first season with what was then the Jumbo-Visma development squad. A year earlier, he had claimed the junior world road race title in Leuven.

“I like the race. I’m always suffering a little bit in October, but it’s a nice race to finish off the season. It’s the last day of racing, so just give it your all,” he said. “It’s an interesting race where anything can happen, and you also need some luck to not have a puncture. Today I had that, so that was nice.”

Punctures played a significant role on the vineyard sectors, with Tim Merlier among those affected and forced into a lengthy chase.

At 23, Hagenes has enjoyed his strongest Classics season yet, finishing second at the E3 Saxo Classic in the spring before winning the Antwerp Port Epic in May.

A relatively late arrival to cycling, he competed as a cross-country skier until 2020 and remains under contract with Visma until the end of 2027.

“It’s a lot of big riders that win there, so it’s nice to also have my name on that list.