Paris-Tours (France) - 14.10.2007

(This event is on the 2007 UCI ProTour calendar but does not hold a UCI ProTour licence)

Paris-Tours is known as the sprinters classic because the race traditionally ends with a mass sprint on the long, straight boulevard finish in Tours. The 257km race usually has a fast start on the plains outside of Paris and gets faster as the sprinters’ teams chase the early attacks and work to keep the peloton together. Tail winds often help the riders speed towards Tours, with average speeds for the race usually over 45km/h. The short climbs on the outskirts of Tours act as a launch pad for late attacks and this creates the nail biting finish as the sprinters and their teams work to control the more aggressive riders looking for personal glory. In 2006 Frédéric Guesdon of the Francaise des Jeux team surprised the sprinters by joining an early attack. He stayed clear with Norway’s Kurt Asle Arvesen and then took an emotional win by beating him in a two-rider sprint. The peloton tried hard to catch the two and were only a few hundred metres behind but could only watch as Guesdon took his biggest win since Paris-Roubaix in 1997. Paris-Tours is such an unpredictable race that the 2007 could finish in a sprint and so suit previous winner Erik Zabel and his team mate Alessandro Petacchi, or yet another breakaway could snatch the glory.