Paris-Tours - Arnaud Démare: "With a lot of desire"
This Sunday, Arnaud Démare will compete in the “Dead Leaves” classic, of which he is a two-time outgoing winner.
“I’m really looking forward to Paris-Tours. My victories in the Tour de Vendée and Paris-Bourges were very good for me and for the whole Arkéa-Samsic team. We’ve been on a good run for a few weeks now, and our aim will be to carry that momentum through to this last and most prestigious classic on the French calendar. Paris-Tours is a race I always approach with ambivalent feelings: envy, and nostalgia, precisely because it’s the last competition I usually take part in. The one that brings my seasons to a close. I’ve already won it twice, and this event pleases and suits me. It’s nervous, and the vineyard paths have made it even “crazier” in terms of pace, as you have to get into position before entering these dirt road sectors. The Arkéa-Samsic team and I are going to do everything we can to make sure we have no regrets after this race on Sunday evening.”
“Paris-Tours will be my last race in the Arkéa-Samsic jersey. I’m going to give 100%, as I’ve always done for the team and in recent weeks for Arnaud Démare, so that we can try to extend the great series we’ve started since the Tour de Vendée. I’ve spent six wonderful years with the Arkéa-Samsic team, and I’d like to thank everyone, the staff, my team-mates, but also the General Manager, Emmanuel Hubert, who handed me my first contract to turn professional.”
“The aim is obviously to try and continue the good run of form that the Arkéa-Samsic team has established at the end of the season. Paris-Tours is a classic that Arnaud Démare has already won, and in two different ways. Once in a breakaway, the other time in a sprint. The key factors in this race are the vineyard roads and the wind: two decisive factors. At the start of the “Classic des feuilles mortes”, we’ll be lining up a solid team around Arnaud, who will of course be our key man. But we can, with the qualities of the riders involved, take part in a number of racing schemes different from a sprint that could be initiated over the kilometers on this fine classic of the French calendar.”