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Published on Tuesday, 08 October 2013 23:46

Paris (Gien) - Bourges, 190.3km

It's the Centenaire of the 1st Paris-Bourges this year, 100 years since the two Narcys filled 1st and 2nd place in 1913. Two world wars meant that there have actually been only 63 runnings of the race though in those 100 years.  

A look through the recent winners show that this is a race mostly for the sprinters, with the likes of Bouhanni, Degenkolb, Greipel, Hayman and Cooke taking podium spots in recent years. Having said that though, the fact that names like Voeckler, Pineau, Bak, Eisel and Voigt have won it in the last 10 years also shows that the undulating route can cause breakaway's and solo winners. In fact in 2008, When Bernie Eisel won, it was from a small break of 6 that went away after just 20kms and just last year, Vachon jumped before the sprinters made their move and held off the chasing pack to win by 3 seconds.

But most years seem to end in a sprint and given that the last climb they have to get over, the Col de la Chapelotte, comes 40kms from the finish, and it is more or less a straight downhill run in, then it is almost certainly going to be a sprint finish. Once the riders arrive in Bourges they hit a small finishing circuit around the town that is 4kms long, and the finishing straight is a 350m long straight avenue.

As to be expected there is a very large French turnout with not just the ProTour teams lining up but a host of ProContinental teams and smaller French teams like La Pomme Marseille and Roubaix - Lille Métropole. Argos-Shimano, Saxo-Tinkoff, Katusha, Euskaltel and Cofidis amongst others are lining up so that should ensure a competitive race. 

Frediric Vachon of Bretagne- Séché Environnement is back to try to defend his title but he will have stiff competition from the likes of Demare and a number of a strong looking FDJ team, Dumoulin and Appollonio of AG2R La Mondiale, Degenkolb, Mørkøv, Coquard and Leukemans to name just a few. 

Leukemans was 7th in this race last year and warmed up for it with a good 2nd place in Tuesday's Binche-Chimay-Binche behind Van Rensburg (one of the two I picked out to win it in the morning on Twitter). He should be right up there again Thursday in this race. John Degenkolb though is the the best sprinter probably on paper though and I would expect him to take this. He took two stages in last week's Tour de l'Eurométropole so is clearly in great shape. I would think Demare and Vachon and Coquard can get involved in the fight for the top 3 places.

If some bookies price it up I will revisit this preview with some betting angles.

On a slightly separate note, the 'Requirement' in this job ad I spotted today for a bookie in Gibraltar who is looking for a new Cycling Odds Compiler made me chuckle..  "The markets for cycling and Winter Sports includes some very shrewd punters and not a great deal of mug money".. They don't like us 'shrewdies', only mugs. Long may we continue to beat them with our 'shrewd' picks! #Ididthat