Key points:
 The 114th edition of Paris-Tours will start at 09:35 tomorrow morning in Chartres. The riders will have to keep their wits about them as they take on vineyard tracks and hills towards the end of the 213-kilometre route, while taking care not to be caught out by crosswinds on the more exposed sections.
 2018 winner Soren Kragh Andersen starts as favourite but he faces no shortage of challengers, including Benoît Cosnefroy, Warren Barguil, Bryan Coquard, Nacer Bouhanni and Romain Bardet, who makes his final appearance in France for AG2R La Mondiale.
 Ahead of the elite race, the Avenue de Grammont will witness the conclusions to the Paris-Tours Espoirs and Paris-Tours Kilometre races, contested by boys and girls in the cadet and junior categories.

WIND, HILLS AND GRAVEL TRACKS: A HEAVY COCKTAIL

The “classic of the dead leaves” has become something of a “classic of the grapevines” since the addition to its route, two editions ago, of gravel sections traversing the vineyards of the Loire Valley. Set to ensure an intense final 50 kilometres for the racers, the nine tracks featured this year are interspersed among a series of hill climbs in the closing stages.
Cédric Coutouly, who is in charge of setting the route for Paris-Tours, explains the layout of this year’s race: „The vineyard tracks we choose are always accompanied by a hill. In 2018, for example, Kragh Andersen dropped Cosnefroy and Terpstra on the ascent of the Côte de Rochecorbon, a climb made even more demanding by the presence of a vineyard track immediately before it. It is this combination that creates various „springboards“ for riders looking to attack.” The wind is another element in the equation and one which, according to Coutouly, may have a central role to play tomorrow: „in theory there’ll be a north-westerly wind, which may mean crosswinds after the riders pass through Vendôme“. At that point, with over 100 kilometres left to race, only the most vigilant riders will prevail.

ROMAIN BARDET: “IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK”
After his season was put on hold following a heavy crash on the thirteenth stage of the Tour de France, Romain Bardet returned to action at the Flèche Brabançonne (27th) and is set to ride Paris-Tours for the very first time, just as his nine-season association with AG2R La Mondiale comes to an end. It will be his last race in the team’s colours in France before he leaves to join Sunweb: „I’ve only competed in the Paris-Tours U23 race and I’ve got good memories of it. I also recall the images of Richard Virenque when he won there in 2001, as he was a rider I followed closely at the time. I like the idea of trying out a new race and changing up my usual schedule, all the more so since the introduction of the vineyards has added a touch of spice to it. It’s interesting to shake up the route with this sort of innovation, to move away from the classic scenarios. I don’t have any real ambitions this weekend, although I felt good at the Flèche Brabançonne and I’m delighted that my season hasn’t been cut short. It’s good to be back in competition.”

PARIS-TOURS ESPOIRS:
YOUNG RIDERS TO SET OFF FROM BONNEVAL
The identity of the riders on the Paris-Tours Espoirs podium has sometimes been known to offer clues as to the future make-up of the professional peloton. The last ten editions of the race have seen stars like Jelle Wallays, Warren Barguil, Mike Teunissen, Jasper Philipsen and, more recently, Nils Eekhoff all finish in the top three. This year, observers will therefore be keeping a keen eye out for the under-23 riders crossing the finish line at the end of the 178-kilometres route starting in Bonneval.
Of the 31 teams competing, perhaps the most promising crop of riders can be found in the Uno-X Norwegian Development Team and, above all, in the figure of their leader Jonas Hvideberd, who was crowned U23 European champion in Plouay this August. Hvideberd finished third in the race in 2019 when he was only 20 years old. With another year of racing under his belt, the Norwegian has every reason to fancy his chances tomorrow but knows that he will face strong competition from rivals like Belgium’s Ward Vanhoof (sixth last year and fourth in Paris-Roubaix Espoirs) and Frenchman Jason Tesson, who rode home sixth behind Hvideberd at the European championships.
@ASO

Key points:
 Just like last year, when Søren Kragh Andersen used the rugged terrain as a launchpad to claim a solo win, the 113th edition of Paris–Tours should come down to a showdown among classics specialists. Oliver Naesen, Niki Terpstra, Nils Politt and Stefan Küng will be vying for his crown this year.
 For the second time running, the peloton will have to tackle vineyards tracks (nine sectors totalling 10.7 km), along with seven climbs in the final 50 kilometres.
 The classic of the falling leaves will also be the final curtain call for Brice Feillu, the winner of the stage to Andorra-Arcalís in the 2009 Tour de France, who will be hanging up his wheels at the end of the season.
CÉDRIC COUTOULY: „ONLY THE TOUGH GUYS WILL BE A FACTOR“
Paris–Tours has ended in a bunch sprint 12 times since the finish line was moved to the Avenue de Grammont in 1988. In other words, short- or long-range solo attacks and small group sprints have carried the day almost two thirds of the time. While the addition of vineyards to the course in 2018 ripped the peloton apart, the sporting manager of the race, Cédric Coutouly, thinks that the selection could be less abrupt this time round. „As well as shortening those sectors a bit, we increased the distance between the two that did the most damage last year. We have also thrown in a 10-kilometre breather that will make it easier for groups to reform. I have an inkling that the decisive selection will come later. On the other hand, team tactics will be less important than usual because almost every vineyard track comes right after a climb, when everyone will be going into the red anyway. As a result, only the tough guys will be a factor. However, having a teammate in the finale can still come in handy from a strategic point of view, for example, in the event of a small group finish.“

BRICE FEILLU READY FOR SWANSONG
Brice Feillu is set to hang up his wheels at the end of what is his 11th season in the pro peloton. The Frenchman, now racing for Arkéa–Samsic, experienced the sweetest moment of his career back in 2009 when, riding the Tour de France as a neo-pro, he claimed a Pyrenean stage ending in Ordino Arcalís, Andorra. The man from Châteaudun, who will be competing almost in his own backyard in the first part of the race on Sunday, has taken part in seven editions of the Grande Boucle and will be starting his fifth Paris–Tours.

PARIS–TOURS ESPOIRS: A LAUNCH PAD FOR 205 YOUNG RIDERS
Just like its pro counterpart, Paris-Tours Espoirs is an important late-season race for U23 riders. 31 teams featuring some of the most prolific rising stars of this season will roll out of Bonneval on Sunday. If defending champion Marten Kooistra is to go two for two on the vineyard tracks, he will have to see off the likes of the Norwegian winner of the Tour de l’Avenir, Tobias Foss. The U23 is a launch pad to the elite: Dutchman Nils Eekhoff, who came in third in last year’s Paris–Tours Espoirs, will be racing in the pro ranks with Sunweb this time round. Another five podium finishers in the U23 category will be riding „with the big boys“ on Sunday: Angelo Tulik, Tony Gallopin, Olivier Le Gac and Kris Boeckmans, as well as Jelle Wallays, the only man to have won both races.

PARIS–TOURS KILOMETRE: THE GIRLS STEP TO THE FORE
Before the U23 riders and the pros, it will be the turn of the O15 riders and Juniors selected by the departmental and regional cycling committees to take the Avenue de Grammont by storm. 19 teams will go head to head in the Paris–Tours Kilometre following the format that premiered last year, with mixed teams of two girls and two boys apiece.
@ASO

Key points:
 For the 113th edition of Paris-Tours, which will take place this coming 13 October, the formula of unpaved roads capable of favouring an eventful race have been brought back, with a slightly shorter distance and a reworked layout.
 The 217km race will start in Chartres, while the Paris-Tours Espoirs peloton will kick-off the action using the final 183 kilometres, starting in Bonneval. The cadets and juniors, boys and girls will compete in the Kilomètre de Paris-Tours.

The 2018 harvest season exceeded all expectations. This is not a report published by the Vouvray winegrowers, but rather conclusions drawn from the changes made to the Paris-Tours race route last year. An attacking style was rewarded, in particular for Søren Kragh Andersen, the 24-year-old winner of his first classic after finishing runner-up in 2017. When he went on the offensive, the succession of vineyards weeded out the peloton to the delight of the strongest riders. The spirit of this pitched battle has been conserved, while arranging the positioning of the difficulties that will progressively drop riders. Thus, the first unpaved sections come after more than 160 kilometres of the race, while a 10km-long portion favouring a regrouping will precede a second series of unpaved roads.

In the section exposed to wind in the Eure-et-Loir and Loir-et-Cher, the crosswinds more than anything else will preserve the race favourites. But after passing by the Château d’Amboise, they will certainly have to rely on their team mates… and finally trust their instincts and legs. On the 10.7s kilometres of vineyards (vs 12.5 kms in 2018), 6.5 kms are regrouped over a distance of 20 kms and spread out over six sectors. The race will then continue through the city of Rochecorbon and head toward the finish line in Tours where an eventual breakaway leader will have to resist his remaining rivals on the Avenue de Grammont. Unless there is a larger group on this Mecca of sprint finishes…

23 teams entered
World Teams
AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
Groupama-FDJ (Fra)
Lotto Soudal (Bel)
Team Dimension Data (Afs)
Team Katusha-Alpecin (Sui)
Team Sunweb (All)
UAE Team Emirates (UAE)

Pro Continental
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Fra)
Delko Marseille Provence (Fra)
Euskadi Basque Country-Murias (Esp)
Gazprom-Rusvelo (Rus)
Israel Cycling Academy (Isr)
Rally UHC Cycling (Usa)
Riwal Readynez Cycling Team (Dan)
Roompot-Charles (Hol)
Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise (Bel)
Team Arkéa-Samsic (Fra)
Total Direct Energie (Fra)
Vital Concept-B&B Hotels (Fra)
Wallonie Bruxelles (Fra)
Wanty-Gobert Cycling Team (Bel)

Continental
Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Métropole (Fra)
St Michel-Auber 93 (Fra)