Paris–Bourges is a French

road bicycle race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

. The race originally started in Paris and ran to the town of

Bourges Bourges () is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital city of the former province of Berry. History The name of the commune derives either from the Bituriges, t ...

in the Région Centre. However, in recent year with the length of races shortened it has become impossible to link the two cities and since 1996 the race has started in the town of

Gien Gien () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. Gien is on the river Loire, from Orléans. Gien station has rail connections to Montargis, Nevers and Paris. The town was bought for the royal domain by Philip II of Franc ...

in the

Loiret Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.

department which is south of Paris. The official name of the race is now Paris-Gien-Bourges although it is still referred to as Paris–Bourges on the UCI calendar and throughout much of the media.www.parisbourges.fr (Accessed Oct 7 2016)
Details amended route and name. The first race was run in 1913, and won by

René Pichon René ('' born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminin ...

and it has been an annual event since 1990. Since 1949, it has been for professionals, after previously being an amateur race. It is held as a 1.1 event in the

UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

. It previously featured as the last of the

French Road Cycling Cup The French Road Cycling Cup (English for Coupe de France de cyclisme sur route) is a road bicycle racing competition under the Fédération Francaise de Cyclisme (French Cycling Federation) each year since 1992. It consists of a number of one-day ...

series of races.

The Route

The modern version of the race takes place over a distance of approximately 190 km with the middle part climbing the hills of the Sancerrois region including the three classified climbs of the Cote de Jars (324 metres), Cote de Graveron (337 metres) and La Chapelotte (378 metres), these climbs decide the mountains prize. Because of their modest height and distance from the finish (La Chapelotte is 35 km from the finish), these hills very rarely have a decisive effect on the race. The race usually concludes with a bunch sprint on the Boulevard de la République in Bourges. Only two riders have won solo in recent editions and denied the sprinters, these were Thomas Voeckler (2006) and Florian Vachon in 2012.Veloclub La presentation de la course (in French)(Accessed Oct 7 2017)
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Winners

References

External links

*
Velo-Club race page
primary source. {{DEFAULTSORT:Paris-Bourges Cycle races in France UCI Europe Tour races Recurring sporting events established in 1913 1913 establishments in France