Paris-Tours: A fall classic

Paris-Tours peloton. Voves, France. 2003.

Adding to the nostalgia associated with not being in France, today was the running of the famed one-day cycling race, Paris-Tours. Last year's Paris-Tours was the last race I covered for Cyclingnews.com, and my farewell to many friends I made on the cycling circuit: photographers, motorcycle drivers, riders, members of the race organization, etc. Paris-Tours is one of the final major races of the European road racing season. Typically grey and cool at the start, there's usually a palpable sense that everyone's a bit tired from the long year of racing and looking forward to the winter months and a little time off.

This photo, from the 2003 race, shows the tail end of the peloton hanging on for dear life as the race sped south to the Loire Valley. The town of Voves, about 40km into the race, was the one spot I could get to in the car after the race started to get a picture of the early action, send that to my colleague in Belgium doing the live race reporting, then jump back in the car and speed to Tours to set up for the finish. I can also relate well to being at the back of a race, hanging on...