Paris-Tours

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Paris-Tours

Race details
Date	Mid-October
Region	Chevreuse to Loire, France
Competition	UCI ProTour
Type	Classic one-day race
Organiser	ASO
History
First edition	1896
Editions	101 (as of 2007)
First winner	Eugène Prévost
Most wins	3 wins: Gustave Danneels Paul Maye Guido Reybroeck Erik Zabel
Most recent	Alessandro Petacchi

Paris-Tours is a French single-day classic cycling race which takes place every October, towards the end of the European season. Its route runs from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours, follwoing a fairly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point in the race is a mere 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-kilometer long Avenue du Grammont, in Tours. Since 2005 the race has been part of the UCI ProTour.

[edit] 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.

Paris-Tours now starts in St. Arnould-en-Yvelines 50 km south west of Paris, the pancake flat route goes south westerly towards Tours crossing the Loire at Amboise, then encountering several small climbs before the finish on the Avenue du Grammont in Tours.

[edit] 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 dominate 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. In 1965 another change was tried to try and stop the race being dominated by the sprinters when derailleur gears were banned and the riders were limited to just two gears, the race was won by Dutch first year professional Gerben Karstens who chose the gears of 53x16 and 53x15, winning the 246 kilometre event at an average speed 45.029 kilometres per hour which at that time was a record. The experiment of gear limitation was judged a failure when the 1966 race ended almost the same as the 1964 race. After 1966 it was never tried again.

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 Autodrome de Montlhéry (1978) and Créteil to Chaville (1985-87). In 1988 the race reverted to its 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 southwest; 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.

[edit] Classic Races and Riders

The 1921 edition of the race was affected 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 Alouette 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Trivia

Paris-Tours is the only race (in which he participated) that Eddy Merckx has never won.

[edit] Results

Rider Team 1896 Eugène Prévost 1901 Jean Fischer 1906 Lucien Petit-Breton 1907 Georges Passerieu 1908 Omer Beaugendre 1909 François Faber 1910 François Faber 1911 Octave Lapize 1912 Louis Heusghem 1913 Charles Crupelandt 1914 Oscar Egg 1917 Philippe Thys 1918 Charles Mantelet 1919 Hector Tiberghien 1920 Eugène Christophe 1921 Francis Pélissier 1922 Henri Pélissier 1923 Paul Deman 1924 Louis Mottiat 1925 Denis Verschueren 1926 Heiri Suter 1927 Heiri Suter 1928 Denis Verschueren 1929 Nicolas Frantz 1930 Jean Maréchal 1931 André Leducq 1932 Jules Moineau 1933 Jules Merviel 1934 Gustave Danneels 1935 René Le Grèves 1936 Gustave Danneels 1937 Gustave Danneels 1938 Jules Rossi 1939 Frans Bonduel 1941 Paul Maye 1942 Paul Maye 1943 Gabriel Gaudin 1944 Lucien Teisseire 1945 Paul Maye 1946 Alberic Schotte 1947 Alberic Schotte 1948 Louis Caput 1949 Albert Ramon 1950 André Mahé 1951 Jacques Dupont 1952 Raymond Guegan 1953 Jos Schils 1954 Gilbert Scodeller 1955 Jacques Dupont 1956 Albert Bouvet 1957 Fred De Bruyne

Rider Team 1958 Gilbert Desmet I 1959 Rik Van Looy 1960 Jo de Haan 1961 Jos Wouters 1962 Jo de Roo 1963 Jo de Roo 1964 Guido Reybroeck 1965 Gerben Karstens 1966 Guido Reybroeck 1967 Rik Van Looy 1968 Guido Reybroeck 1969 Herman Van Springel 1970 Jürgen Tschan 1971 Rik Van Linden 1972 Noël Vantyghem 1973 Rik Van Linden 1974 Francesco Moser 1975 Freddy Maertens 1976 Ronald Dewitte 1977 Joop Zoetemelk 1978 Jan Raas 1979 Joop Zoetemelk 1980 Daniel Willems 1981 Jan Raas 1982 Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke 1983 Ludo Peeters 1984 Seán Kelly 1985 Ludo Peeters 1986 Phil Anderson 1987 Adri van der Poel 1988 Peter Pieters 1989 Jelle Nijdam 1990 Rolf Sørensen 1991 Johan Capiot 1992 Hendrik Redant 1993 Johan Museeuw 1994 Erik Zabel 1995 Nicola Minali 1996 Nicola Minali 1997 Andrei Tchmil 1998 Jacky Durand 1999 Marc Wauters 2000 Andrea Tafi 2001 Richard Virenque 2002 Jakob Piil 2003 Erik Zabel 2004 Erik Dekker 2005 Erik Zabel 2006 Frédéric Guesdon 2007 Alessandro Petacchi

[edit] Tours-Paris

In 1917 and 1918 a race was held from Tours - Paris as well as Paris - Tours.

The winners of Tours-Paris were:

Rider Team 1917 Charles Deruyter 1918 Philippe Thys

[edit] Sources

• European Cycling (The Twenty Greatest Races) - Noel Henderson ISBN 0-941950-20-4
• A Century of Cycling - William Fotheringham ISBN 1-84000-654-4

[edit] External links

• Paris-Tours Official Site