Paris-Tours

Paris-Tours
Region	Chevreuse-Loire (France)
Date	Mid October
Type	One-day race
History
First Edition	1896
Editions	98
First Winner	Eugène Prévost
Most Recent	Erik Zabel
Most Wins	Gustave Danneels , Paul Maye , Guido Reybroeck and Erik Zabel , 3 times

Paris-Tours is a French single day classic cycling race which takes place in October towards the end of the European season. The route runs from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours on a fairly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys, the highest point in the race being only 200 metres at Le Gault-du-Perche. It has become known as the “Sprinters Classic” because the event has frequently ended in a bunch sprint on the 3 km long Avenue du Grammont in Tours. Since 2005 the race is part of the UCI ProTour.

History

Paris-Tours was first run as an amateur competition in 1896, making it one of the oldest cycling races in the world, it was organised by the magazine Paris-Velo, who described that first edition won by Eugène Prévost as, “A crazy, unheard of, unhoped for success”, however despite this, it was five years before the race was run again and a further five years (1906) before it became an annual event for professionals with the magazine l’Auto as the organisers. At that time l’Auto organised the Tour de France (TDF) and Paris-Tours to this day has remained in that stable of events run by the TDF organisers, today it is run by the TDF’s parent company the Amaury Sport Organisation.

The Route and Conditions

Paris-Tours has had a varied history with many route changes over the years although the race distance has generally remained the same at about 250 km. The start of the race was moved out of Paris in the early days, first to Versaille and then to the present start town of Saint Arnould en Yvelines. A major route alteration was tried between 1919 and 1926 in an effort to make the finale tougher, a loop through Chinon was added making the approach to Tours over hilly lanes on the south bank of the Loire and the total distance a hefty 342 km. Despite this the sprinters continued to dominated the race and in 1959 the organisers decided to add a three lap finishing circuit taking in three ascents of the Alouette Hill but this failed to make any significant difference.

Drastic changes were made to the race between 1974 and 1987 when the course was reversed and the route constantly changed, at this time the race was sometimes known as the Grand Prix d'Automne and sometimes by the names of the start and finish towns. For many people the event lost it’s true character during this period as the race was run between Tours and Versailles (1974-75) Blois and Chaville (1976-77 and 1979-84), Blois to Montlhéry (1978) and Créteil to Chaville (1985-87). In 1988 the race reverted to it’s original Paris-Tours route with the organisers realising that the sprinters should have a classic of their own. The wind can be a significant factor in Paris-Tours and can often be hostile from the prevailing south west, in 1988 Peter Pieters averaged a speed of just 34 km/h into a headwind (the slowest speed for 57 years). However, when the wind is behind the riders Paris-Tours becomes the fastest of the classics with Erik Zabel winning in 2003 at an average speed of 47.550 km/h, this performance by Zabel makes him the holder of the Ruban Jaune or "Yellow Riband" which goes to the fastest average speed in a classic race.

Classic Races and Riders

The 1921 edition of the race was effected by snow and freezing blizzards, half the field abandoned in Chartres, eventual winner Francis Pélissier punctured late in the race, unable to affect a repair because of frozen hands he tore the tyre off with his teeth, riding on the rim he chased and caught Eugène Christophe and soloed to the finish. Rik Van Looy won the 1959 race, the first to feature the Alouette Hill, regarded as one of the best sprinters of his day Van Looy showed his overall class by dropping two other riders on the second ascent of the Allouette and winning alone.

The record for the most victories in Paris-Tours stands at three, jointly held by four riders, Gustaf Daneels (1934, 1936, 1937), Paul Mayé (1941, 1942, 1945) and Guido Reybroeck (1964, 1966, 1968) and Erik Zabel (1994, 2003, 2005). Eddy Merckx never won Paris-Tours, he should have triumphed in 1968 but handed victory to team mate Guido Reybrouck, by pulling out of the sprint, as a thanks for his help earlier in the season. An almost unknown German, Erik Zabel took his first big victory at Paris-Tours in 1994, Zabel went on to be one of the greatest sprinter roadmen of all time, winning the Tour de France green jersey on six occasions. He won the race again in 2003 and 2005. In recent years Jacky Durand, Andrea Tafi, Marc Wauters, Richard Virenque and Erik Dekker have all won the race solo or from a small group thus denying the sprinters a chance in their own race. Virenque’s victory was especially memorable, as he had just returned from a drugs ban and been written off by many people, he broke away with Durand shortly after the start and stayed away until the finish despite Durand dropping back just outside Tours.

The Autumn Double

The Autumn Double refers to the Paris-Tours and the Giro di Lombardia which are always run within a week of each other. The races are completely different in character, Paris-Tours is for the sprinter and Lombardia is for the climber, thus making the double very difficult. Only three riders have achieved it, Philippe Thys (Belgium) did it in 1917, Rik Van Looy (Belgium) did it in 1959 and Dutchman Jo de Roo achieved it twice in 1962 and 1963.