GRAVEL MAKES RACES GO BANG

Paris-Tours has seldom had as big an overhaul in its 112 editions as it did in 2018. The final three climbs which traditionally test the sprinters ahead of the finale in Tours were removed, and in came nine stretches of off-road gravel sectors and seven new hills, in the final 60km, in a bid to spice up the finale. The ‘sprinter’s classic’ was no more. Organisers ASO called it an evolution, while Christian Prudhomme said the route was designed with a touch of “madness”, the kind needed to stop cycling going “to the wall”. “People complain about the monotony of certain races. We chose to do something out of the ordinary,” he said.

Keen to inject the same kind of life into the race as the Paris-Roubaix pavé did at the Tour this year, or the white gravel roads do at Strade Bianche, the sectors across the dusty Touraine vineyards ranged in length from 500m to 2.5km. Coupled with the crosswinds that hit the route, after just three sectors the race was blown to pieces as small as those on the tracks they were riding across, as punctures and attacks went wild.

At the finish, the reaction from inside the bunch ranged from the enraged - Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere vowed never to send his team to the race again so long as gravel remained on the route - to those who loved it, such as race winner Søren Kragh Anderson. “Some guys say it’s dangerous but you also have to adapt,” he said.

Opinions are perhaps divided, but if ASO’s aim was to make ParisTours explode into life, the gravel certainly made an impact.