Paris-Brussels Totally Explained

Everything about Paris-brussels totally explained

Paris-Brussels is a semi classic European bicycle race. It is one of the oldest races on the international cycling calendar.

History

Paris-Brussels was first run in 1893 as an amateur event over two days. The race was for a long time part of the Spring Classics with a place in the calendar towards the end of April, sandwiched in between Paris-Roubaix and Gent-Wevelgem. The event lost its prestige however in 1966 when the Dutch cycling authorities decided they wanted to promote their own Spring Classic and the Amstel Gold Race was born. In addition to this competition from the Dutch, the race was adversely affected by traffic problems between the two capital cities and the race wasn't run between 1967 and 1972.
When the race returned in 1973 it was with a midweek date towards the end of September, just before Paris-Tours. The 1973 edition of the race was won by Eddy Merckx (the great man's only win in the event). Most individual wins in Paris-Brussels for a single rider stands at three, jointly held by Octave Lapize (France) and Felix Sellier (Belgium), strangely enough both riders won their three races “on the trot”, Lapize won in 1911, 1912 and 1913 and Sellier won in 1922, 1923 and 1924. Lapize could easily have had four victories but he was disqualified after winning the 1910 race for not observing a neutralised mid-race section.

Former winners

Paris-Brussels has only seen very moderate success for British riders, Sean Yates finished third in 1994 when he got in a break with Rolf Sørensen and Franco Ballerini. At that time there was much animosity between Yates and Sørensen after the infamous “shirt pulling” incident in the 1994 Tour de France. Sørensen and Yates wouldn't give an inch but it was Yates who lost out eventually as Sørensen broke away for the win. Tom Simpson finished second in 1963, Simpson went away early in the race, well before the border into Belgium was crossed, no rider had ever won the race by attacking before the border but it was in Simpson’s mentality to try to prove the legend wrong, a small group went with Tom and established a 13 minute lead, the trouble was that the group contained Jean Stablinski (the World Champion) and Simpson lost out to him when his gears slipped and Stablinski managed to get away and hold on for the win.
Results for other English speaking riders, include the victory of Robbie McEwen in 2002 after the peloton caught a dangerous break by Dutchman Erik Dekker with just 500 metres remaining. Another Australian Phil Anderson finished third in 1992. Irishman Seamus Elliott was particularly unfortunate in 1958, with three miles to go he'd a lead of over a minute when he smashed his frame with no support vehicle in sight, Elliott was forced to take a spectator's bike but was soon caught by the chasing pack and finished the race well down the rankings.

Race length

Before 1926, the race was always over 400 km in length, but this has gradually been reduced over the years with the 2004 edition being over a distance of 225 km, although as recently as 1987 the distance was 309 km when Wim Arras triumphed. The quickest edition of the race was run in 1975 when a tailwind assisted an amazing pace with Freddy Maertens coming home first with an average speed of 46.11 km per hour.

Route

Today the race starts at Soissons, in the Picardie region, 85 kilometres north-east of Paris, although prior to 1996 the race started in Noyon in the same area and during the 1980s the starting point was the town of Senlis in southern Picardie . The race has a mostly level profile for much of the route but towards the back end there are several testing cobbled climbs such as the Alsemberg, Mont Saint Roch and the Keperenberg. The race ended for many years in the Anderlecht district of Brussels outside the Constant Vanden Stock football stadium in the Place de Linde. However, a change of finish was seen for the 2005 race which concluded at the famous Atomium landmark in the centre of Brussels. 1996 saw another change to the race when it was moved from its traditional midweek date to a Saturday. The quality of the field for the Paris-Brussels has suffered since the Vuelta a España moved to a September start in 1995, with many of the better sprinter-roadmen preferring the Spanish Tour.

Results

Further Information

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