It wasn’t the expected sprinter who won the 95th Paris-Tours in France on Sunday, it was a climber. And it wasn’t just any climber, it was Frenchman Richard Virenque, who pulled off a major personal coup in winning the second-to-last race of the 2001 UCI World Cup series.

Virenque, formerly of Festina and now riding for Domo-Farm Frites, just returned to competitive racing in August after serving a lengthy suspension from the sport after the Festina doping scandal of 1998.

Spaniard Oscar Freire (Mapei-Quick Step) finished second in Sunday’s 254.5km race in France, and German sprinting ace Erik Zabel (Telekom) was third. Virenque jumped on to the wheel of fellow Frenchman Jacky Durand (La Francaise des Jeux) just 12km into the 254.5km race and never looked back. In windy conditions, the duo built a huge lead that maxed out at more than 18 minutes. The main group, which started the day with 184 riders, finally came alive with about 70km to go, but it was just a little too late.

Long way to go: Durand and Virenque made their move just 12km into the race.

Photo: Graham Watson

The gap to Virenque and Durand was quickly whittled away, but Virenque barely held on for the win, dropping Durand just 8km from the finish. The closing pack ate up Durand and finished just 4 seconds behind Virenque, who had pulled off an amazing 242km breakaway win.

The win for the 31-year-old Virenque -- who has won the Tour de France best climber’s jersey five times -- means little in the World Cup standings as he is unranked. But Virenque's first classic win may do wonders for his confidence just a few days prior to the world championships in Lisbon, Portugal. With only one race to go in the World Cup -- the Giro di Lombardia on October 20 -- the race for the overall is heating up between Zabel and flying Dutchman Erik Dekker of the Rabobank team.