Changes planned for Paris-Tours finish

Next Sunday, the Autumn Classic Paris-Tours will end on the Avenue de Grammont – probably for the penultimate time. As of 2010, the long road in Tours will not serve as a finishing straight anymore as the city plans the construction of a tramway.

The finale of the sprinters' race will thus be entirely revised, with a new finish on Boulevard Heurteloup one possibility. But Jean-François Pescheux, the man in charge of race routes at ASO, told Cyclismag.com that changes were going to be more far-reaching than that. In fact, the race organiser might revise as much as the last 60 kilometres of the event.

"We would like to put some climbs in the finale to increase the dynamics and intensity of the competition," he said. At the moment, four small climbs are included on the race profile: the Côtes de Crochu, de l'Epan, du Pont Volant and du Petit Pas d'Ane.