We take a look at the route for Paris-Bourges as Team Sky debut at the testing French semi-classic.
Preview of the 61st edition
As part of Team Sky’s increased assault on the autumn one-day races the squad will rock up in north-central France in a bid to keep the momentum rolling at Paris-Bourges.
With a list of winners which reads like a who’s who of hard men and puncheurs, the race has re-established its place in the calendar and is an event every rider would like to win.
The race dates all the way back to 1913 but has moved and experimented with different routes down the years.
No longer starting in Paris, in recent years the podium places have been commandeered by sprinters who have carried their form into the autumn months.
Team Sky line up at the start with a powerful squad made up of Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Russell Downing, Juan Antonio Flecha, Mathew Hayman, Greg Henderson, Ian Stannard and Chris Sutton.
The action kicks off in Gien on the banks of the Loire River. The 190.4-kilometre route runs south-east and parallel to the waterfront passing a number of picturesque chateaus along the way.
With various prizes on offer during the race an early sprint point at Chatillon-sur-Loire could be hotly contested before the riders finally enter the department of Cher.
The race arrives in Belleville-sur-Loire before looping around to the west, passing through a second sprint at Santranges before taking in a brief loop just to the east of Agbigny-sur-Nere.
The riders pass through Jars and are eventually met with undulating terrain as the race transitions back east, taking in three brief ramps to precede the run for home.
Attention then turns to the finish with a long, straight and largely downhill run into Bourges. The pace will be high with an escape likely hoping to hold out until the finish.
A pan-flat final few kilometres will play into the hands of the sprinters and the fight will be on as riders bid to add their name to the winner’s list.
