Upcoming: Paris-Tours, October 12, 2008

Paris-Tours, known as the "Sprinter's Classic" due to its relatively flat parcours, brings the peloton back to big time racing, and closer to the final big race of the year, the Tour of Romandy. Past winners of Paris-Tours include Alessandro Petacchi, Erik Zabel, and Joop Zoetemelk. Over the years, escape artists have been able to take top honors as well. Some break away stylists who have won over the years include Jacky Durand, Jakob Piil, Andrea Tafi, and Rolf Sørensen.

The start list is an impressive one, and in addition to the favorites, several lower profile riders could impress in the French race. The favorites consist of Daniele Bennati, Tom Boonen, Oscar Freire, Robbie McEwen, Gerald Ciolek, Matti Breschel, Tyler Farrar, and Erik Zabel. These top sprinters will have full support from their respective teams as they try to take the prestigious win. Among the favorites, Boonen, Farrar, and Breschel are on the best form.

For darkhorses, Mark Renshaw, Heinrich Haussler, newly crowned world champion Alessandro Ballan, JJ Haedo, and Bernhard Eisel could surprise the field. Renshaw has a fast finish and will be motivated to help sponsor Credit Agricole go out on top, while Haussler will hope to rediscover the form he had earlier in the season at the Tour of California. JJ Haedo is always dangerous in a sprint, and the Argentinian won't be watched as closely as teammate Breschel, and Bernhard Eisel is on great form, as evidenced by his recent win at Paris-Bourges earlier this week.

Ballan, though very well known, is still an underdog in the race as he is not known as a sprinter. However, if the lanky Italian has any of his world championship form remaining, he could jump away from the field and time trial home for the win. Other possible threats include Nick Nuyens, Sammy Sanchez, Filippo Pozzato, Allan Davis, and Nicolas Vogondy. Each of the above riders have the ability to attack the field with force, and they all have the power to keep away from the field if they can get a small gap.

Paris-Tours will give the sprinters a chance at victory ahead of next weekend's prestigious Tour of Romandy. A much hiller course awaits the field in Romandy, so the sprinters will be highly motivated to take one more win before the close of the season.