This Sunday 11 October 2015, it's time for the usual end of the season classic in France already, the 109th edition of Paris-Tours, which is also known as the classic of the falling leaves, just like its big brother Il Lombardia which took place last week. This year it'll take place between Chartres and the Avenue de Grammont in Tours.

As usual, this classic is one of the last races of the season in France and the riders will thus want to show off before they get to their winter rest period.

In this article you'll find all you need to know about this end of the 2015 season classic: the race route, the map on Google Maps and a downloadable version in Google Earth of the race route, the profile and the time- and route schedule. You'll also find the participants list with the bib numbers.

The Paris-Tours 2015 race route

After most probably the furthest start from Paris we've seen in the recent history of Paris-Tours, in Bonneval, this SUnday's start in Chartres will remind us of the one in 2009 when the classic also started in this city (see the photos of the Paris-Tours 2009 start in Chartres) and this was followed by a start in La Loupe in 2010, in Voves in 2011, in Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais in 2012, in Authon-du-Perche in 2013 and in Bonneval in 2014.

The distance of the 2015 edition is similar to the previous editions with its 231 kilometers compared to 237.5 last year, 235 in 2013, 235.5 in 2012, 230.5 in 2011 and 233 in 2010. After the start from the Place Châtelet in Chartres at 11.30AM, the riders will follow the Avenue Jehan de Beauce, the Place Pierre Semard, the Rue Pierre Nicole, the Rue Chauveau Lagarde, the Place Jeanne d'Arc, the Rue Philippe Desportes, the Rue de Reverdy, the Rue des Réservoirs, the Rue des 3 Ponts, the Rue Saint-Brice, and in Le Coudray the Route de Patay which will bring them to the D29 where the race will really go off at 6.5 km from the initial start location, at 11.45AM. They'll stay on this road, via Voves, until Fains-la-Folie where they'll turn right towards Bonneval, the start location of last year's race. Just after Lanneray, they'll get back on the usual race route for Paris-Tours. The feeding zone will still be in Vendôme.

Just after La Croix-en-Tourraine, the race route will be a little bit different since the riders will follow the D976 westwards without visiting Athée-sur-Cher. Going southwards from Azay-sur-Cher down to Esvres-sur-Indre, they'll get back on the usual race route.

In the final part of the race, the riders will of course again find the Côtes de Crochu, de Beau Soleil and de l'Epan at respectively 28, 9.5 and 7 kilometers from the finish line. The finish line itself will again be drawn in the Avenue de Grammont which is now 800 meters long.

The Paris-Tours 2015 race route on Google Maps, the time- and route schedule and the race profile

Hereunder you'll find the Paris-Tours 2015 race route on Google Maps, its profile and the time- and route schedule. Click on the images to open them:

The Paris-Tours 2015 race route in Google Earth

Would you like to do a virtual fly-over of this race route? Or do you simply prefer to see it in Google Earth?
>> Click here to download the Paris-Tours 2015 race route in Google Earth (KML file)

Paris-Tours 2015 broadcasted on TV

Will you not be able to go see the race on the side of the road or at the finish in Tours this Sunday? No problem, in France you'll be able to watch the race live on France 3 from 3PM till 5.10PM and on Eurosport from 3.30PM till 5PM.

The other countries which will broadcast the race live are:
- several European countries on Eurosport and several Asian countries on Eurosport Asia-Pacific
- Belgium at RTBF and VRT (Sporza)
- Denmark at TV2
- Spain at Teledeporte
- Italy at RAI Sport
- Luxembourg at RTL
- Norway at TV2
- The Netherlands at Nederland 1 (NOS)
- Wales at S4C
- Portugal at TVI
- Switzerland at SRG SSR
- several countries in Africa on Supersport
- several countries in Latin America at ESPN International
- in the Middle-East and North Africa on beIN Sports
- Australia on SBS
- Canada on Sportsnet
- the United States on NBC Sports Network
- Japan on J Sports
- New Zealand on Sky TV

The main favourites, the participants list and their bib numbers

The 5 most recent winners of Paris-Tours are Oscar Freire (2010), Greg van Avermaet (2011), Marco Marcato (2012), John Degenkolb (2013) and Jelle Wallays (2014) and this year again the race could well finish in a sprint, despite the suspense which often reigns at the finish with a breakaway still being present in the last few kilometers (or even being formed at that time of the race)! If it finishes in a sprint, Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis, solutions crédits), recent winner of the Grand Prix d'Isbergues and Arnaud Démare (FDJ) will be the best French chances, in competition with names like the Belgians Gianni Meersman (Etixx-QuickStep) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal), the Dutch riders Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing) and Moreno Hofland (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) or the Italians Matteo Pelucchi (Team IAM) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing), the Germans Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) and Nikias Arndt (Team Giant-Alpecin) or the Irish rider Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18) who won Paris-Bourges this Thursday.

Among the punchers and the outsiders who wouldn't like to end the race in a bunch sprint we find big names like Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team), Niki Terpstra (Etixx-QuickStep), Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) and the French riders Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal) and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), recent winner of the Tour de l'Eurométropole and of a stage of the Vuelta a España.

Hereunder you can find the participants list of Paris-Tours 2015 and their bib numbers :
>> Participants list for Paris-Tours 2015

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Tours | OpenStreetMap/Google Maps/Google Earth

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