DAY-1 PARIS-TOURS NEWS
October 8 th 2022 - 17:32
Key facts:
• The 116th edition of Paris-Tours, starting from Chartres on Sunday, will be held over 213.5 km including ten dirt paths in the vineyards in the last 67 kilometres.
• The race will be the last for Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert, who clinched his first major win on Tours’ Avenue de Grammont in 2008 and also won the last classic of the season in 2009.
• Title-holder Arnaud Démare, at the head of a strong Groupama-FDJ team hopes for history to repeat itself on a slightly modified course, with two new dirt road sectors.
Two new vineyard roads for a strong field
Paris-Tours managed to attract a strong field for its 116th edition, with two-times winner Philippe Gilbert bidding farewell why title-holder Arnaud Démare and in-form fellow-Frenchmen Christophe Laporte and Benoit Cosnefroy have strong ambitions, as well as Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen, Ireland’s Sam Bennett and former winners Matteo Trentin or Jelle Wallays.
With two new dirt paths in the vineyards this year, the question mark is again whether sprinters will still manage to prevail, especially as headwinds and crosswinds are forecast.
“We have two new sectors and the first one is placed 15 km earlier in the race. But I don’t think the race will unfold before the third vineyard path because there is a long flat section as we ride along Chateau d’Amboise”, said race director Cedric Coutouly.
For him, the most crucial point will be the Cote de la Rochère and the Vernou vineyard path with 28 km to go “as it is the toughest climb and it comes after a succession of rough roads and bumps”.
Coutouly said he was satisfied to see local towns suggesting new sectors in the vineyards as they adopted the new race format as their own. It was the case for the two new dirt roads in Limeray and Vouvray.
“In spite of the rough terrain, Paris-Tours is still wide open for sprinters as we saw last year with Demare’s victory. In the late season, a lot of riders are tired, but we still have a world class field,” he said.
Philippe Gilbert: “My connection with Paris-Tours is quite special
Two-times winner Philippe Gilbert will bid an emotional farewell to Paris-Tours, the first big race he won in his exceptional career, in 2008 and 2009.
“My connection with Paris-Tours is quite special. Because it's a classic that I enjoyed from the first time, in 2003. It was a World Cup race, over 250 km, one of the biggest classics of the season. For me it was a great discovery and I saw right away that it suited me because there was the opportunity to make the difference on the sprinters,” the retiring Belgian told a news conference ahead of the race.
“In 2008 it was the first big win of my career. It was even more special because it was my last (road) race with La Française des Jeux, a big victory in France with a French team, there were a lot of symbols in this victory. For me it was a dream to finish with them like that, it was full of emotions,” the 40-year-old Lotto-Soudal rider added.
The 2011 world champion, who won all the one-day monuments Milan-San Remo, said he was leaving the professional peloton with no regrets.
“I am happy to end my career at the moment I decided to. I chose everything, which was important to me. I feel ready to close this chapter of my life. They were twenty intense years, a lot of things happened and I am ready for something new, something different.”
Arnaud Démare: “The good years of Paris-Tours are back”
Last year’s winner Arnaud Démare is hoping for history to repeat itself on Sunday, especially as he finished second in Paris-Bourges this week, the same result as a year ago.
“It's true that I've been in second place for the last two years in Bourges. If it means it’ll be like last year, I'm in for it!”
The Frenchman said he was still eager at the end of a long season and willing to do well.
“I feel good, I have the will to do well. Sometimes you arrive at the end of the season a bit blunt, wishing to stop and put the bike down. But I still have a lot of desire to win. We have a team built for this weekend, a strong team. We are starting with ambition,” he said.
The Groupama-FDJ bunch sprinter was better suited on paper for the Paris-Tours of old, dubbed the “unofficial sprinters world championship”, but he said that after a time of adaptation, the race was back to its best level.
“It's true that at the beginning, when the course was modified, there was a time of adaptation, we had to mourn the "real" Paris-Tours. I myself felt like this, I was a bit nostalgic about the old route. And then finally, the teams came back. We are going to live the good years of Paris-Tours again.”
Benoît Cosnefroy: “The objective is clearly to win”
Winner of the Quebec Grand-Prix last month and instrumental in helping Christophe Laporte snatch the silver medal at the World championships in Australia, Frenchman Benoit Cosnefroy has big ambitions for Sunday’s Paris-Tours.
“The objective for me is clearly to win. We have a very good dynamic in the team at the moment with Van Avermaet who finished 4th in Binche, Naesen who finished 3rd in the Famme Ardenne Classic and myself, who was 5th in the Tre Valli Varesine. We only need to score at last to finish the season in style. That is my ambition”, the Ag2R-Citroen team leader said.
Cosnefroy already finished third and second in the race in 2018 and 2020, riding it in its older format and in its new configuration with dirt roads on the course.
“Paris-Tours has certainly lost a bit of its prestige these last few years, but it is a race that is reinventing itself and remains one of the big events of the late season, and I decided to make this choice rather than Lombardia. Some teams are skipping it, but with the race for points at the end of the season, it's going to be a very strong field.”
The Frenchman is confident that with more vineyard paths than in previous editions, the race will unfold quickly.
“I didn’t check the course, but I think it's quite similar to what I've known and which has worked well for me so far, even if I've also ridden it without the gravel. On this kind of course, I think that there will be a lot of movement from the start and that it will be unbridled because nobody really likes to ride in a bunch on the dirt roads. It should move quite quickly,” he said.
Christophe Laporte: “I’m going to try and enjoy it until the end”
World-championship silver-medallist and a recent winner in Binche-Chimay-Binche in Belgium, Christophe Laporte admits to feeling a bit wary at the end of a long season but hoping to obtain a better result than in the past on Paris-Tours.
“The race has never really worked for me. We'll see. This time it's different, I've been consistent all year. I felt really good on Tuesday in Binche. My motivation had dropped a bit in training after the Worlds, the trip and the fatigue. But finally the legs are still there. I'm going to try to enjoy it until the end,” said the Frenchman, whose best result in seven participations was 44th.
The Jumbo-Visma rider said he would have a lot of freedom tactically in the team, knowing than in case of a bunch sprint, he would put himself at the service of Dutchman Olav Kooij.
“A race like this, with dirt roads, small bumps, is always nervous, there is always movement. They are always interesting races. I don't expect a bunch sprint. It's possible, but it's not the first scenario that you foresee,” he said.
Also a stage winner in both the Tour de France and Paris-Nice, Laporte has had his best season by far and is likely to be named the best French rider of the season.
“I don't think too much about that. Since the Worlds, I tell myself that everything that happens is a bonus, I was already very happy with my season. Binche was a bonus. Paris-Tours is the same, it's a bonus whatever happens.”
Youngsters in the spotlight
The Paris-Tours Kilometre, dedicated to male and female riders of the under17 and under19 categories, will open the show on Avenue de Grammont before the finish of the U23 Paris-Tours, scheduled an hour before the pros. The 178.4-km race starts from Bonneval and take the same course as the pro race. Among the favourites to take over from last year’s winner Jonas Iversby Hvideberg, who will start the pro race for DSM this year, are Scotsman Oscar Onley (DSM Development), who recently battled it out with Jonas Vingegaard in the Tour of Croatia, and Belgium’s Alec Segaert (Lotto-Soudal DT), winner of the Piccolo Lombardia last week. Local hopes will rest on the shoulders of amateur French champion Matteo Vercher (Vendée U), Ag2R-Citroen’s Bastien Tronchon and Jordan Labrosse as well as Enzo Paleni (Conti Groupama-FDJ).
Two hours of live coverage
The 116th edition of Paris-Tours will be covered live on television for two hours over 190 territories and by 25 broadcasters including general and sports networks. The live broadcast will take place between 13:10 and15:10 GMT.