Four ProTour teams make way for French Continentals in France’s autumn classic
Race organiser ASO has announced the list of 25 teams that have received invitations to this year’s Paris-Tours race; the race will be held on October 10th, one week after the World Championship road race in Melbourne, Australia. ASO has favoured local French teams, including three from the Continental division, while four ProTour teams miss out.
While the inclusion of French Professional Continental teams Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis is to be expected, since they were both ProTour teams until this year, the invitation of Big Mat-Auber 93, Bretagne-Schuller and Roubaix-Lille Metropole is more of a surprise. As Continental teams, members of the third tier, they are rarely seen at races of this level; International Cycling Union (UCI) regulations prohibit the presence of Continental teams in ProTour events.
Although the race was previously one of the ten events in the World Cup, and subsequently a ProTour race, it was downgraded to 1.HC ranking last year and so Continental teams may ride.
Big-Mat-Auber 93 (then simply Auber 93) and Rouaix-Lille Metropole were invited to last year’s race, along with Besson Chaussures-Sojasun.
In addition to the allowance of Continental teams, there is no obligation on the part of the organiser to invite all 18 ProTour teams; Astana, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Footon-Servetto and Garmin-Transitions are the ones to miss out.
The 2010 edition of Paris-Tours will be the last one to finish at the end of the Avenue de Grammont in the centre of the city on the river Loire. The road presents a 2700 metre long curve-free finishing straight, making it an ideal race for sprinters. Despite this though the côtes de Beau Soleil, de l’Epan and du Petit Pas d’Ane inside the last 11km help the breakaway riders to escape the peloton.
The last two races have been won by Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) from a breakaway group; the Belgian is the big favourite for the World Championships and a hat-trick of wins could be a good way to show off a new rainbow jersey, should he win.
Teams for 2010 Paris-Tours
ProTour Teams:
AG2R La Mondiale, Caisse d’Epargne, FDJ, HTC-Columbia, Lampre-Farnese Vini, Liquigas-Doimo, OmegaPharma-Lotto, Quickstep, Rabobank, Sky Professionnal Cycling Team, Team Katusha, Team Milram, Team Radioshack, Team Saxo Bank
Professional Continental Teams:
BBox Bouygues Telecom, BMC Racing Team, Cofidis, Saur-Sojasun, Skil-Shimano, Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator, Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team
Continental Teams:
Big Mat-Auber 93, Bretagne-Schuller, Roubaix-Lille Métropole