Paris-Brussels

Paris-Brussels
Region	France - Belgium
Date	September
Type	One-day race
First Edition:	1896
Editions	85
First Winner	André Henry
Most Recent:	Robbie McEwen
Most Wins:	Octave Lapize and Félix Sellier, 3 times

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

History

Paris-Brussels was first run in 1893 as an amateur event over two days. The race was a Spring Classic towards the end of April, between Paris-Roubaix and Gent-Wevelgem. The event lost its prestige in 1966 when Dutch promoted the Amstel Gold Race. The race was also affected by traffic problems and was not run between 1967 and 1972.

When the race returned in 1973 it was midweek towards the end of September, just before Paris-Tours. The 1973 race was won by Eddy Merckx. The most individual wins stood for a long time at three, by Octave Lapize (France) and Felix Sellier (Belgium). Lapize won in 1911, 1912 and 1913 and Sellier in 1922, 1923 and 1924. Lapize was disqualified after winning the 1910 race for not observing a neutralised section. In 2007, Robbie McEwen broke the record by winning his fourth race, and bettered this again with a fifth win in 2008.

English-speaking riders

Paris-Brussels has only seen moderate success for British riders, Sean Yates finished third in 1994 in a break with Rolf Sørensen and Franco Ballerini. There was animosity between Yates and Sørensen after shirt-pulling in the 1994 Tour de France. Sørensen broke away to win.

Tom Simpson finished second in 1963. He went away well before the border into Belgium. A small group went with him and established a 13-minute lead. The group contained Jean Stablinski and Simpson lost to him when his gears slipped and Stablinski got away for the win.

Robbie McEwen won in 2002 after the peloton caught Erik Dekker with 500m remaining. Another Australian Phil Anderson finished third in 1992. Irishman Seamus Elliott was unfortunate in 1958; with three miles to go he had a lead of a minute when he smashed his frame. He took a spectator's bike but finished down the rankings.

File:Paris-Brussels Map.JPG

Map showing the route of the 2004 edition of Paris-Brussels.

Race length

Before 1926, the race was always over 400km, but this has reduced over the years with 2004 being 225km, although as recently as 1987 the distance was 309km when Wim Arras triumphed. The quickest race was 1975 when a tailwind helped Freddy Maertens finish in 46.11kmh.

Route

The race starts at Soissons, in Picardie, 85km north-east of Paris, although prior to 1996 the race started in Noyon and during the 1980s in Senlis. The race is level but towards the end there are 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, 2005 concluded at the Atomium north of the centre of Brussels. 1996 saw another change when it was moved from midweek date to a Saturday.

The quality of field has suffered since the Vuelta a España moved to September in 1995, many sprinter-roadmen preferring the Spanish Tour.

Results

Rider Team 1893 Template:Country data BEL André Henry 1894– 1905 No race 1906 Template:Country data FRA Albert Dupont 1907 Template:Country data FRA Gustave Garrigou 1908 Template:Country data FRA Lucien Petit-Breton 1909 Template:Country data LUX François Faber 1910 Template:Country data FRA Maurice Brocco 1911 Template:Country data FRA Octave Lapize 1912 Template:Country data FRA Octave Lapize 1913 Template:Country data FRA Octave Lapize 1914 Template:Country data BEL Louis Mottiat 1915– 1918 No race 1919 Template:Country data BEL Alexis Michiels 1920 Template:Country data FRA Henri Pélissier 1921 Template:Country data FRA Robert Reboul 1922 Template:Country data BEL Félix Sellier 1923 Template:Country data BEL Félix Sellier 1924 Template:Country data BEL Félix Sellier 1925 Template:Country data BEL Gerard Debaets 1926 Template:Country data BEL Denis Verschueren 1927 Template:Country data FRA Nicholas Frantz 1928 Template:Country data BEL Georges Ronsse 1929 Template:Country data BEL Pé Verhaegen 1930 Template:Country data BEL Ernest Mottard 1931 Template:Country data BEL Jean Aerts 1932 Template:Country data BEL Julian Vervaecke 1933 Template:Country data FRA Albert Barthelèmy 1934 Template:Country data BEL Frans Bonduel 1935 Template:Country data BEL Edgard De Caluwé 1936 Template:Country data BEL Eloi Meulenberg 1937 Template:Country data BEL Albert Beckaert 1938 Template:Country data BEL Marcel Kint 1939 Template:Country data BEL Frans Bonduel 1940– 1945 No race 1946 Template:Country data BEL Briek Schotte 1947 Template:Country data BEL Ernest Sterckx 1948 Template:Country data BEL Ludo Poels 1949 Template:Country data FRA Maurice Diot 1950 Template:Country data BEL Rik Van Steenbergen 1951 Template:Country data FRA Jean Geugen 1952 Template:Country data BEL Briek Schotte 1953 Template:Country data ITA Loretto Petrucci 1954 Template:Country data BEL Marcel Hendrickx 1955 Template:Country data BEL Marcel Hendrickx 1956 Template:Country data BEL Rik Van Looy

Rider Team 1957 Template:Country data BEL Léon Van Daele 1958 Template:Country data BEL Rik Van Looy 1959 Template:Country data BEL Frans Schouben 1960 Template:Country data FRA Pierre Everaet 1961 Template:Country data BEL Pino Cerami 1962 Template:Country data BEL Jos Wouters 1963 Template:Country data FRA Jean Stablinski 1964 Template:Country data BEL Georges Van Coningsloo 1965 Template:Country data BEL Edward Sels 1966 Template:Country data ITA Felice Gimondi 1967– 1972 No race 1973 Template:Country data BEL Eddy Merckx 1974 Template:Country data BEL Marc Demeyer 1975 Template:Country data BEL Freddy Maertens 1976 Template:Country data ITA Felice Gimondi 1977 Template:Country data BEL Ludo Peeters 1978 Template:Country data NED Jan Raas 1979 Template:Country data BEL Ludo Peeters 1980 Template:Country data ITA Pierino Gavazzi 1981 Template:Country data BEL Roger De Vlaeminck 1982 Template:Country data NED Jacques Hanegraaf 1983 Template:Country data SWE Tommy Prim 1984 Template:Country data BEL Eric Vanderaerden 1985 Template:Country data NED Adri van der Poel 1986 Template:Country data ITA Guido Bontempi 1987 Template:Country data BEL Wim Arras 1988 Template:Country data GER Rolf Gölz 1989 Template:Country data NED Jelle Nijdam 1990 Template:Country data ITA Franco Ballerini 1991 Template:Country data DNK Brian Holm 1992 Template:Country data DNK Rolf Sørensen 1993 Template:Country data FRA François Moreau 1994 Template:Country data DNK Rolf Sørensen 1995 Template:Country data BEL Frank Vandenbroucke 1996 Template:Country data ITA Andrea Tafi 1997 Template:Country data ITA Alessandro Bertolini 1998 Template:Country data ITA Stefano Zanini 1999 Template:Country data LVA Romāns Vainšteins 2000 Template:Country data NED Max van Heeswijk 2001 Template:Country data FRA Emmanuel Magnien 2002 Template:Country data AUS Robbie McEwen Template:Country data BEL Lotto-Adecco 2003 Template:Country data LUX Kim Kirchen Template:Country data ITA Fassa Bortolo 2004 Template:Country data BEL Nick Nuyens Template:Country data BEL Quick Step-Davitamon 2005 Template:Country data AUS Robbie McEwen Template:Country data BEL Davitamon-Lotto 2006 Template:Country data AUS Robbie McEwen Template:Country data BEL Davitamon-Lotto 2007 Template:Country data AUS Robbie McEwen Template:Country data BEL Predictor-Lotto 2008 Template:Country data AUS Robbie McEwen Template:Country data BEL Silence-Lotto