WHY I LOVE…
Could there be a more fitting finale to the French racing calendar than ParisTours? It sits perfectly in time and space. It crosses the rural plains of western France, which, in early October, mean the views are all stubble fields and autumnal copses. If the wind blows at the peloton’s back, few races in the season will be faster. In 1988 the race found a suitably grand finish on the Avenue de Grammont. Outside of the ChampsElysées and San Remo’s Via Roma, it is the finish line every top sprinter should win on at least once. Organisers ASO are trying to spice up the race this year by venturing onto unsealed roads in the Loire vineyards. The sectors’ number, length and placement – and so their importance – are still secret. The race’s glory days are over. Now the race comes in the last month of an extended season. Riders are fatigued and enthusiasm for one more long day in the saddle is waning. But somehow that fits too. Paris-Tours’s faded glory reflects the passing of another year.