Sprinting to success at Paris-Troyes?

After the cancellation of last week's GP Lillers, Leopard Pro Cycling returns to France to take part in Paris-Troyes. For the Luxembourgish outfit, it's the third participation in this UCI 1.2 race.

Just like recent years, the 61st edition of Paris-Troyes will start in Nogent-sur-Seine, a city three hours away from the Luxembourgish border and one hour away from Paris. From here, the race will head southwest and have eight local laps before arriving in the city center of Troyes. There are two climbs situated in this local circuit, which are the Côte de l'Escargot (2.3 km at 4.2%) and the Côte de Macey (0.8 km at 6.6%). After conquering the total of sixteen climbs, the race takes the riders to the finish line in Troyes, in front of the Stade de l'Aube football stadium. In the last four years, despite the climbs, the race was always decided in a mass sprint finish. Therefore, Leopard Pro Cycling will have the fast legs of both Alexander Krieger and Konrad Gessner at the start line. Paris-Troyes will be the first race for Szymon Rekita after taking the overall classification at the Tour of Antalya and also Pit Leyder - who will do the race for the third year in a row - will be present again.

Pit Leyder: "I already did Paris-Troyes twice and although it was a bunch sprint finish both times, it can be pretty tough with the climbs that we do in each lap. Also the wind can play an important role, so we have to be attentive. As a team, we can be very confident thanks to the results in the past weeks. Tomorrow, I want to help the team in the final to get the best result possible for us. I am excited to show my condition at the upcoming races. This year I want to show myself especially in the U23 races as it is the last time that I get to do those races. But also the Tour of Luxembourg will be an main goal in 2019. As a team we are working very hard to make the coming months very successful."

GP Lillers (UCI 1.2)
17.03 - Paris-Troyes | 187 km