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INTRODUCTION
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Through a long but somewhat chequered history, Paris - Tours remains still one of the great classics. The great enemy, as in Paris - Brussels, is the wind. When it is from the South-West, the race can become a slog - Peter Pieters averaged just 34kmh to win in 1988, the slowest winning speed for 57 years. Conversely, if the wind is behind, the race takes on its role of fastest of all the classics; it was for his winning average of nearly 42kmh that Gustaf Daneels was awarded the first Ruban Jaune in 1936, and that award has remained intimately tied up with Paris - Tours ever since. When Andrei Tchmil won in 1997, he averaged over 48kmh for a race of 250km.
The route and format have varied somewhat over the years; the first part takes in the hills of the Chevreuse Valley before running along the Loire, generally flat and fast. As the roads improved in the 1920s and speeds went up, the event became known as the Sprinters' Classic. To prevent this state of affairs, in 1959 the organisers added a finishing circuit with a hill called l'Alouette, to be covered three times. By supreme irony, the winner, in a solo break, was Van Looy, the quickest sprinter in the race! The next restriction, in 1965, was to limit the riders to just two gears, enforced by having double sided hubs, last used in the 1930s. Somehow sufficient hubs were rounded up for the entire peloton, but to little avail; even more the race became a flat burn up to Tours. That the winners were Reybroeck twice and Karstens speaks volumes about the efficacy of the idea, which was soon quietly dropped.
Throughout the seventies and early eighties, more fundamental changes took place, with the event being reversed, generally as Blois - Chaville. This presented a different character to the race, since now the Chevreuse came at the end of the race, rather than the beginning, and some interesting racing took place. However in 1988, the race reverted to the traditional Paris - Tours, without the Alouette climb, and with the finish on the long, straight Avenue de Grammont - the classic ending to the Sprinters' Classic.
Not related to each other in either location or topography, Paris - Tours and the Tour of Lombardy nonetheless remain connected by taking place within a week or so of each other, but months separated from all the other classics. The two thus became known as the Autumn Double. Only three riders have successfully completed the double: Philippe Thys in 1917, Rik Van Looy in 1959 and Jo De Roo in 1962 and 1963.
| 1896 | Eugène Prévost (Amateur) | |
| 1901 | Jean Fischer | |
| 1902 | Not held | |
| 1903 | Not held | |
| 1904 | Not held | |
| 1905 | Not held | |
| 1906 | Lucien Petit-Breton | |
| 1907 | Georges Passerieu | |
| 1908 | Omer Beaugendre | |
| 1909 | François Faber | |
| 1910 | François Faber | |
| 1911 | Octave Lapize | |
| 1912 | Louis Heusghem | |
| 1913 | Charles Crupelandt | |
| 1914 | Oscar Egg | |
| 1915 | Not held | |
| 1916 | Not held | |
| 1917 | Philippe Thys (Note 1) | |
| 1918 | Charles Mantelet (Note 1) | |
| 1919 | Hector Tiberghien | |
| 1920 | Eugène Christophe | |
| 1921 | Francis Pélissier | |
| 1922 | Henri Pélissier | |
| 1923 | Paul Deman | |
| 1924 | Louis Mottiat | |
| 1925 | Denis Verscueren | |
| 1926 | Henri Suter | |
| 1927 | Henri Suter | |
| 1928 | Denis Verscueren | |
| 1929 | Nicholas Frantz | |
| 1930 | Jean Maréchal | |
| 1931 | André Leducq | |
| 1932 | Julian Moineau | |
| 1933 | Jules Merviel | |
| 1934 | Gustaf Daneels | |
| 1935 | René Le Grèves | |
| 1936 | Gustaf Daneels | |
| 1937 | Gustaf Daneels | |
| 1938 | Jules Rossi | |
| 1939 | Frans Bonduel | |
| 1940 | Not held | |
| 1941 | Paul Mayé | |
| 1942 | Paul Mayé | |
| 1943 | Gaby Gaudin | |
| 1944 | Lucien Teisseire | |
| 1945 | Paul Mayé | |
| 1946 | Brik Schotte | |
| 1947 | Brik Schotte | |
| 1948 | Louis Caput | |
| 1949 | Albert Ramon | |
| 1950 | André Mahé | |
| 1951 | Jacques Dupont | |
| 1952 | Raymond Guegan | |
| 1953 | Jozef Schils | |
| 1954 | Gilbert Scodeller | |
| 1955 | Jacques Dupont | |
| 1956 | Albert Bouvet | |
| 1957 | Fred De Bruyne | |
| 1958 | Gilbert Desmet | |
| 1959 | Rik Van Looy | |
| 1960 | Jo de Haan | |
| 1961 | Jos Wouters | |
| 1962 | Jo De Roo | |
| 1963 | Jo De Roo | |
| 1964 | Guido Reybroeck | |
| 1965 | Gerben Karstens | |
| 1966 | Guido Reybroeck | |
| 1967 | Rik Van Looy | |
| 1968 | Guido Reybroeck | |
| 1969 | Herman Van Springel | |
| 1970 | Jurgen Tschan | |
| 1971 | Rik Van Linden | |
| 1972 | Nöel Vantyghem | |
| 1973 | Rik Van Linden |
| 1974 | Francesco Moser | |
| 1975 | Freddy Maertens | |
| 1976 | Ronald Dewitte | |
| 1977 | Joop Zoetemelk |
| 1978 | Jan Raas |
| 1979 | Joop Zoetemelk | |
| 1980 | Daniel Willems | |
| 1981 | Jan Raas | |
| 1982 | Jean Luc Vandenbroucke | |
| 1983 | Ludo Peeters | |
| 1984 | Sean Kelly |
| 1985 | Ludo Peeters |
| 1986 | Phil Anderson | |
| 1987 | Adri Van Der Poel |
| 1988 | Peter Pieters | |
| 1989 | Jelle Nijdam | |
| 1990 | Rolf Sørensen | |
| 1991 | Johan Capiot | |
| 1992 | Hendrik Redant | |
| 1993 | Johan Museeuw | |
| 1994 | Erik Zabel | |
| 1995 | Nicola Minali | |
| 1996 | Nicola Minali | |
| 1997 | Andrei Tchmil | |
| 1998 | Jacky Durand | |
| 1999 | Marc Wauters | |
| 2000 | Andrea Tafi, Mapei | |
| 2001 | Richard Virenque, Domo - Farm Frites |
| 1917 | Charles Deruyter | |
| 1918 | Philippe Thys |