this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2025

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Race thread: 🇫🇷 Paris–Tours, Oct 12 (www.paris-tours.fr)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Deschanel2017@lemmings.world to c/procycling@lemmy.world

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This is the last major race in France, a .Pro race longer than 210 km (which, like any race whose name starts with Paris, doesn't start from Paris, but in this case from Chartres), with a first part (2/3^rd^) going through flat countryside and forests, and a last 3^rd^ that climbs up and down the Loire valley sides and takes a few gravel/stone paths across the vineyards.

Video teaser (2 mn)

Video summary of last year's (muddy) race and the Lidl-Trek vs Visma fights, mostly in French

The race should be dry this year (not a raindrop in days). So the paths should look like in 2023:

The final has been modified a bit this year. The long final avenue looked nice with its tree cover, I don't know about the new finish line, but it shortens a bit the distance of pure flat before the line (there is still a bit more than 10 km of flat roads after the little climbs and the paths).

Unfortunately, Paris–Tours suffers from the occurrence on the same week-end of Il Lombardia and this weird Gravel World Championship without gravel. The first of those is for climbers, so there shouldn't be real competition for riders, but I see that Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Grégoire (FDJ) are announced in Lombardia on Saturday, whereas Paris–Tours would suit them much better. And Pidcock is supposed to go to the 'gravel' race on Sunday.

By the way, it will be Arnaud Démare's last professional race.

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[–] EvilCartyen 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Personally, I hope to see Albert Withen Philipsen do well - he's really impressed me this fall, and he'd clearly in great shape. I think he's also been junior world champion in gravel, and almost everything else, so the gravel sections should not pose much risk for him.

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Personally, I hope to see Albert Withen Philipsen do well

He may, he may. Without even accounting for punctures and crashes, the race looks very open: there isn't someone or a few riders above the others, but many guys who can be strong. It is like there is no clear favourite(s), but only (numerous) outsiders:

Withen🇩🇰 and (is he in shape now?) Vatchek🇨🇿 for Lidl,
Godon🇫🇷 and Lapeira🇫🇷 for Décathlon,
a random St-Michel or Roubaix rider who'd manage to stay in a breakaway,
Madouas🇫🇷 and Küng🇨🇭 for FDJ, even though they are not in shape, who knows, on a terrain for them, perhaps, maybe...
Unibet has Kubich🇸🇰,
UAE has UAE,
Visma has Laporte🇫🇷, Brennan🇬🇧, Campenaerts🇧🇪 and Kooij🇳🇱!
if the race is not too hard, Alpecin brings Philipsen🇧🇪,
De Lie🇧🇪 (Lotto) wasn't often lucky with this race, but he's won a ton of races since late August,
Sheehan🇺🇸 won the last dry edition for IPT,
Ineos has several guys but I don't know their shape, Turner🇬🇧 could have been it on this terrain, but he's changed a bit,
Uno-X will as usual stick to the first places like leeches to score points (and perhaps get more than just points),
and a few others teams and riders I didn't quote.

BTW, Gaudu's return to competition was short-lived. He wasn't put on the list for the Tour of Emilia but on the smaller Italian race next day, where he withdrew or was stopped before the end; his presence on a later small Italian race was cancelled; and he isn't listed on any race any more. The guy has ridden 2 or 3 good days in February in Oman, then 2 or 3 good days in August in Spain, and the rest was awful; that's a peculiar season.

PS: I probably won't watch Lombardia, and won't open a thread, so if you feel like opening one, be ~~my~~ your guest 😉

[–] EvilCartyen 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Baffling tactics from Lapeira and Gruel in the final km.

But a fine victory by Trentin, and a fine ride and result by Albert Philipsen.

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Baffling tactics from Lapeira and Gruel in the final km.

A long national tradition of being dipsticks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2C3kn051AI

PS: Those were the same two teams (FDJ & AG2R), now that I think of it!

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Baffling tactics from Lapeira and Gruel in the final km.

One thing I would like to add, because I read many people putting 90% of the blame (or more) on Lapeira because they say he was the better sprinter.

Lapeira indeed scored a number of victories, while Gruel only got 1 on the Route d'Occitanie. But:

Lapeira basically always won on hilltops,
today was a pure flat finish,
Gruel takes part in mass sprints, against pure sprinters! He is some sort of replacement sprinter when his team hasn't got a better one. He made a place of 6^th^ in Saragossa (before Turner and Pedersen) and a place of 9^th^ in a late stage of this year's Vuelta. He also sprinted in the Tour of Poland (one place of 4^th^ when Magnier won, and on a slightly punchier finish a place of 5^th^). A 3^rd^ place on the flattest stage of the 4 Days of Dunkerque. A 4^th^ place in Basque Country when Caleb Ewan won.

So, of course Gruel is not a top sprinter, but, given an equal level of freshness, he has his chances and probably more than his chances against a non-sprinter (or puncher-sprinter with a strong emphasis on puncher) like Lapeira.

[–] EvilCartyen 1 points 1 week ago

I agree, it looked a little stupid but sometimes you have to risk losing everything to win. This time the gamble didn't pay off, but maybe next time it will.

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Withen🇩🇰 and (is he in shape now?) Vatchek🇨🇿 for Lidl,

Not sure what happened to Vatchek in a little narrow climb, but it killed his legs for the rest of the race: he could come back but suffered from it ever after.

Godon🇫🇷 and Lapeira🇫🇷 for Décathlon,

Godon won the sprint of the small 'peloton' of 17 riders for 8^th^ place. Lapeira was the Stan Laurel of the comical duo ahead.

a random St-Michel or Roubaix rider who’d manage to stay in a breakaway,

The breakaway was caught early this year, by the peloton and not by a later breakaway, so this didn't work out for the Roubaix guy who was indeed in the breakaway of 5 riders.

Madouas🇫🇷 and Küng🇨🇭 for FDJ, even though they are not in shape, who knows, on a terrain for them, perhaps, maybe…

Madouas blew up while he was catching up with Lapeira and his own teammate Gruel. He was like 4 metres behind and yet couldn't finish the job.

I didn't see Küng at all. Gruel was the FDJ of the day, the Oliver Hardy of the comical duo ahead. Jacobs was in the early breakaway, yet he managed to finish in the small 'peloton'.

Unibet has Kubich🇸🇰,

I think (I am not sure, confusing him & Vatchek) he followed a few attacks, but couldn't follow the right ones. He still finishes in the small 'peloton' (but couldn't sprint).

UAE has UAE,

2 men in the small 'peloton', which they tried to pull, chasing the groups of 2 and 5 ahead.

Visma has Laporte🇫🇷, Brennan🇬🇧, Campenaerts🇧🇪 and Kooij🇳🇱!

Brennan had no legs; Campenaerts wasn't much better; Kooij had a puncture, but wasn't great before that, and it was Campenaerts who was waiting to bring him back: suffice to say it really didn't work. Only Laporte did very well, but he had to do it by himself, as the other strong guys from his team had turned out to be not so strong.

if the race is not too hard, Alpecin brings Philipsen🇧🇪,

He didn't start the race.

De Lie🇧🇪 (Lotto) wasn’t often lucky with this race, but he’s won a ton of races since late August,

I think he fucked his legs by keeping on riding with a puncture. The goal was to wait for his car to come and have a quick bike exchange, instead of stopping for a longer wheel change. But he forced for too long with the puncture.

Sheehan🇺🇸 won the last dry edition for IPT,

He finished inside the small 'peloton'.

Ineos has several guys but I don’t know their shape, Turner🇬🇧 could have been it on this terrain, but he’s changed a bit,

Do I remember correctly if I say their guys were seen at the front when the climbs and paths started? Anyway, after a while, they were nowhere to be seen any more, that is sure.

Uno-X will as usual stick to the first places like leeches to score points (and perhaps get more than just points),

They were very discreet today. Not in the early breakaway and, I reckon, never seen attacking?

and a few others teams and riders I didn’t quote.

EEkhoff (Picnic), H. Page (Intermarché), Dujardin (Total) and Breuillard (St-Michel, a Conti team!) finished inside the small 'peloton'.

Another terrible race for Cofidis: only 2 finishers, none within UCI points (which are attributed until the 40^th^ rider...).

Q36.5's first rider came 77^th^...

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago

Ah, and there is one team about which I forgot both before and after the race.

The winner's team, Trentin's team, Tudor. 😆 I absolutely didn't expect Trentin to still be able to do such a performance, and then I was obsessed with the two French clowns in the finish.

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Unfortunately, Paris–Tours suffers from the occurrence on the same week-end of Il Lombardia and this weird Gravel World Championship without gravel. The first of those is for climbers, so there shouldn’t be real competition for riders, but I see that Alaphilippe (Tudor) and Grégoire (FDJ) are announced in Lombardia on Saturday, whereas Paris–Tours would suit them much better.

Spoiler of Lombardia result

At least Alaphilippe, 23^rd^ at 6 mn, worked for Storer's podium until into the last UAE acceleration. But Grégoire, seriously... 83^rd^ at 22 mn... already dropped with over 80 km left to go, pfff... (NB: that was with FDJ brand new bike, that only him had)

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

52 km/h average over the first 100 kilometres! It likely means that, because of the late start (3 PM, French time) of TV broadcast ('thanks' to France Television), we won't see anything before the Loire slopes and paths, and perhaps even miss a bit of the beginning of those.

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago

we won’t see anything before the Loire slopes and paths,

That's exactly what happened: the first picture I saw, was the peloton already in the downhill street of Cangey just before the first climb, and next picture was the breakaway already on top of that climb.

I really liked when we could see the different attitudes and shapes of the riders/peloton, when they were in the first flat part, and then on the slopes and paths, and also when they were approaching the change. I mean, there is no point in showing a lot of the flat part, it's pretty boring, but, say, the last 20 kilometres of it would be nice.

[–] Deschanel2017@lemmings.world 1 points 1 week ago

Whatever the domain is, we are definitely a country of bloody plonkers!!