The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar . Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most revered races are often described as the cycling monuments .
25-711: Paris–Camembert (also Paris–Camembert Trophée Lepetit or Paris–Camembert Lepetit ) is a semi classic held annually in April. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour . The route of the 200 kilometres (120 mi) race has varied over the years, it previously started in Magnanville , near Paris, and finished in Vimoutiers . The present day race starts in Pont-Audemer in
50-636: A further five years (1906) before it became an annual event for professionals, with L'Auto as organiser. L’Auto ran the Tour de France (TDF) and Paris–Tours is still run by the Tour organiser, Amaury Sport Organisation . The race was part of the UCI Road World Cup from 1989 to 2004, and the UCI ProTour from 2005 to 2007. From 2008 to 2019 it was part of the UCI Europe Tour before joining
75-575: A small group, denying sprinters a chance. Virenque had just returned from a drugs ban. He broke away with Durand shortly after the start and stayed away despite Durand's dropping back outside Tours. The Autumn Double refers to Paris–Tours and the Giro di Lombardia , considered cycling's most important classics in Autumn, run within a week of each other in October. The races are different – Lombardia
100-527: Is a predominantly flat course through the Chevreuse and Loire valleys; the highest point is 200 m, at Le Gault-du-Perche. It is known as a "Sprinters' Classic" because it frequently ends in a bunch sprint at the finish, in Tours. For several decades the race arrived on the 2.7 km long Avenue de Grammont, one of cycling's best-known finishing straits, particularly renowned among sprinters . Since 2011
125-615: The Eure department and heads south for 60 km to the environs of the finishing town of Livarot in the Calvados department . Once in the region of Livarot the race takes in seven climbs around the town, some of which are ascended several times. The climbs are namely: Côte de Chevreville-Tonnencourt (one ascent), Côte de l'Angleterre (three ascents), Butte des Fondits (three ascents), Côte de Camembert (one ascent), Côte de la Cavée de Crouttes (two ascents), Côte de Tortisambert (two ascents) and
150-851: The Omloop , but receive a lot of attention because of their position early in the season, typically in February. Together, Strade Bianche, Milan–San Remo, the Cobbled classics and the Ardennes classics make up the "Spring Classics", all held in March and April. After Liege, the one-day races begin to give way to the stage races leading to the Grand Tours between May and September. Although there are no 'monuments' in this period, some important summer classics are held from July to September. Following
175-702: The Tour de France , Giro d'Italia , Vuelta a España , Paris–Nice , and the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré . The UCI ProTour replaced the UCI Road World Cup series (1989–2004) which contained only one-day races. Many of the classics, and all the Grand Tours , were not part of the UCI ProTour for the 2008 season because of disputes between the UCI and the ASO , which organizes the Tour de France and several other major races. Since 2009, many classic cycle races are part of
200-533: The UCI ProSeries in 2020. Paris–Tours has had many route changes although the distance has remained about 250 km. The start was moved out of Paris in the early days, first to Versailles , then to at Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines . Since 2009, the route has started in the Department of Eure-et-Loir . A loop through Chinon was added between 1919 and 1926 to make the approach to Tours hilly lanes on
225-482: The UCI World Tour . Although cycling fans and sports media eagerly use the term "classic", there is no clear consensus about what constitutes a classic cycling race. UCI , the international governing body of cycling, has no mention at all of the term in its rulings. This poses problems to define the characteristics of these races and makes it impossible to make precise lists. Several criteria are used to denote
250-561: The Côte de la Becquetiere (two ascents). The last of these 14 climbs is 10 km from the finish line which is in the town centre of Livarot on the Route de Lisieux. Historically, the race attracted a mostly French field of riders, but the field has become increasingly more diverse. By the 1970s famous riders were regularly participating and sometimes winning the race: riders such as Bernard Hinault and Joop Zoetemelk added celebrity and allure to
275-563: The additional difficulties. The 1921 edition had blizzards. Half the field abandoned in Chartres . The winner, Francis Pélissier , punctured late in the race; his hands frozen, he tore the tyre off the rim with his teeth. Riding on the rim, he caught Eugène Christophe and soloed to the finish. Rik Van Looy won the 1959 race, the first to feature the Alouette Hill. One of the best sprinters of his day, Van Looy dropped two others on
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#1732794425553300-524: The end of the Vuelta a Espana in early September, the nature of the racing once more tends towards the one-day races. The autumn classics are held from September to November. Some Classics have disappeared, often because of financial problems. These include: The Monuments are generally considered to be the oldest, hardest and most prestigious one-day events in cycling. They each have a long history and specific individual characteristics. They are currently
325-433: The fastest time in a professional race. The route for the 2018 edition of the race was changed radically with the race starting in Chartres and incorporating 12.5 kilometres' of unpaved gravel tracks inside the final 60 kilometres as the race winds it way around vineyards in the Tours area. Seven new punchy climbs were also included in the finale of the race which was reduced to a distance of 211 kilometres to compensate for
350-467: The finish was moved to a different location because a new tram line was built on the Avenue de Grammont. Paris–Tours was first run for amateurs in 1896, making it one of the oldest cycling races in the world. It was organised by the magazine Paris-Vélo , which described that edition won by Eugène Prévost as, "A crazy, unheard of, unhoped for success" . It was five years before the race was run again and
375-495: The importance of a cycling race: date of creation, historical importance and tradition, commercial importance, location, level of difficulty, level of competition field, etc. However, many of these paradigms tend to shift over time and are often opinions of a personal nature. One of the few objective criteria is the official categorization of races as classified by the UCI, although this is not a defining feature either, as many fans dispute
400-609: The one-day races in which most points can be earned in the UCI World Tour . Since the early 2000s, many classic events have started women's races, now part of the UCI Women's World Tour . These events are often held on the same day or on the same weekend of the men's races. Three of the five cycling 'monuments' have equivalent races: Tour of Flanders for Women (first held in 2004), Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes (first held in 2017) and Paris–Roubaix Femmes (first held in 2021). A women's version of Milan–San Remo, named Primavera Rosa ,
425-763: The presence of some of the highest-categorized races and some older races are not included in the UCI World Tour . Because of the growing ambiguity and inflation of the term "classic", the much younger term "monument" was introduced in the 21st century to denote the five most revered of the classic cycling races. Until the 1980s there were originally eight recognised classics, the five Monuments (see Cycling Monuments below) plus La Flèche Wallonne , Paris–Brussels and Paris–Tours . Due to various traffic and organizational problems these events came and went in various guises (for example, Paris–Tours became Blois–Chaville, before returning in its current form). Paris–Brussels disappeared altogether between 1967 and 1976. Flèche Wallonne
450-591: The race reverted to its original Paris–Tours route. The wind can often be hostile; in 1988 Peter Pieters averaged just 34kmh, slowest for 57 years. However, Paris–Tours becomes the fastest classic when the wind is behind the riders, Óscar Freire winning in 2010 at 47.730kmh. It gave him the Ruban Jaune or "Yellow Riband" for the fastest speed in a classic, in fact the Ruban Jaune has been awarded nine times (as of 2016) to riders winning Paris–Tours and posting
475-538: The race. Teams based in France most heavily contest the race, but the race today also draws UCI ProTour teams. Some riders also use the race in preparation for the Ardennes classics . Classic cycle races For the 2005 to 2007 seasons, some classics formed part of the UCI ProTour run by the Union Cycliste Internationale . This event series also included various stage races including
500-424: The season. Later, Noël Vantyghem (winner of the 1972 edition) said "Together with Eddy Merckx, I won all classics races that could be won. I won Paris-Tours, he the rest." Erik Zabel took his first big victory at Paris–Tours in 1994. He won Paris–Tours again in 2003 and 2005. Jacky Durand , Andrea Tafi , Marc Wauters, Richard Virenque , Erik Dekker and Philippe Gilbert (two times) have all won solo or from
525-410: The second ascent and won alone. The record for the most victories is three, held by Gustave Danneels (1934, 1936, 1937), Paul Maye (1941, 1942, 1945), Guido Reybrouck (1964, 1966, 1968) and Erik Zabel (1994, 2003, 2005). Eddy Merckx never won Paris–Tours; he could have triumphed in 1968 but handed victory to teammate Guido Reybrouck, pulling out of the sprint, to thank him for help earlier in
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#1732794425553550-476: The south bank of the Loire and the total distance 342 km. Sprinters continued to dominate and in 1959 the organisers added three ascents of the Alouette Hill. It made little difference. In 1965 dérailleurs were banned and riders were limited to two gears. The race was won by Dutch first-year professional Gerben Karstens who chose 53/16 and 53/15, covering 246 km at a record 45.029 km/h. The experiment
575-490: Was always on the Saturday before Liege–Bastogne–Liege (it was known as The Ardennes Weekend), before being shortened and moved to the preceding Wednesday. The remaining five then became known as the 'Monuments'. Rik van Looy is the only rider to win all eight. Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck both won seven, both missing out at Paris–Tours. Season openers are usually not regarded as highly as other classics apart from
600-403: Was initiated in 1999, but cancelled after 2005. Other major races include La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (first held in 1998), Women's Amstel Gold Race (first held in 2001) and Strade Bianche Donne (first held in 2015). Paris%E2%80%93Tours Paris–Tours is a French one-day classic road cycling race held every October from the outskirts of Paris to the cathedral city of Tours . It
625-544: Was judged a failure when the 1966 race ended the same way as 1964. The course was reversed and the route constantly changed between 1974 and 1987. It was sometimes known as the Grand Prix d'Automne and sometimes by the names of the start and finish towns. For many the event lost character as the race was run between Tours and Versailles (1974–75) Blois and Chaville (1976–77 and 1979–84), Blois to Autodrome de Montlhéry (1978) and Créteil to Chaville (1985–87). In 1988
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