ASO have announced the route for Paris-Nice and here’s a quick look at what’s in store next month. With no time trials and no big summit finishes either it promises a tactical race for the puncheurs with steep ramps and walls to provide the suspense.
Sunday 9 – Sunday 16 March
Stage 1 is a loop based on the commuter town of Mantes La Jolie and a sprint finish looks likely. Stage 2 is another probable sprint finish but has a finishing loop and crosswinds are possible. Stage 3 heads for the Magny Cours motor-racing circuit with its evocative Adelaide and Estoril bends. Flat and wide it sounds ideal for a high speed sprint finish but remember the bunch often looks slow on a circuit designed for lapping at 200km/h.
Stage 4 should have gourmets and spectators in rapture with Mont Brouilly on the route. An ancient volcanic peak in the Beaujolais vineyards and the 25% gradient quoted in the caption above makes this sound like something special, something to rival the vicious climbs of Tirreno-Adriatico. But in reality it’s not a towering peak and the road rises more in the order of 15%. But Brouilly will still leave the sprinters with a hangover it’s just a few kilometres to the rendez-vous in Belleville via a tricky descent.
Stage 5 might set-up some déjà vu as Stage 12 of the Tour de France will cover some of the route later this summer. A succession of climbs gives the profile a lumpy look but the gradients are steady, a finish for most sprinters with advantage John Degenkolb or Thor Hushovd. After a big transfer down the Rhone valley Stage 6 heads towards the Mediterranean coast but is stopped by the Mur de Fayence, “the wall” is climbed once and then again to to the finish. It’s traditionally a feature of February’s Tour du Haut-Var.
Stage 7 heads inland with some long steady climbs, passing ski stations before heading downhill for three circuits around the Sophia-Antipolis tech park. It’s here where Remy Di Gregorio won in the rain, a day still remembered for Robert Kiserlovski’s screaming agony as he slid into a parked truck but looking forward it’s a tough stage to shake out the winner. Stage 8 starts and finishes in Nice, twice as nice and a classic route for local riders as it heads inland via a series of climbs designed to wear down the peloton.
Route Summary
No time trials and no summit finishes makes this a blank canvas and a test of the dictum that “it’s the riders who make the race, not the course”. The absence of set piece stage finishes like a time trial or summit finish mean there’s nothing to impose a chronological hierarchy on the race. Instead there are walls, ramps and other sharp obstacles to overcome and it should see time bonuses play a big role (update: they’re included, it’s confirmed).
Hopefully this prompts a lively race where the lead can change every day and riders must take risks and set tactical traps to beat their rivals. Note the total distance of 1447 km, the longest ever since 1968… when the race was a day longer.
What to watch: Paris is the capital city and Nice is the biggest city on the Côte d’Azur, a highly populated coastline. But in between there’s a lot of empty space and the race has a rural feel as it traverses sleepy regions waiting for spring to arrive. Expect open roads and with luck, crosswinds to add more to the early stages before Mont Brouilly forces a selection.
Big Test: as Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome have shown, winning here doesn’t mean you peak too soon. But in the absence of obvious time trials and long climbs the winner needs to be a more punchy rider than one capable of holding a high wattage for 20-40 minutes. In times past the race has been good at revealing talent so look to see who can emerge here. We’ve yet to get the startlist but think of Alejandro Valverde, Simon Gerrans, T-J Slagte, Geraint Thomas, Enrico Gasparotto and Rui Costa – all capable of climbing but also taking time bonuses and maybe a risk or too as well.
Small Test: wildcard invitations have gone to Bretagne-Séché, Cofidis and IAM Cycling. We’ll see what Bretagne-Séché can do, expect breakaway action.
Paris-Nice vs. Tirreno-Adriatico: it looks odd the calendar but fans can rejoice as they get two races a day to watch. The more I think about it, if it’s dysfunctional for the sporting calendar, it adds some suspense. There’s something good about two different paths, it keeps us guessing about the relative form of different riders especially since the two routes contrast so much this year, the Italian race visiting the ski station of Selvarotonda di Cittareale.
Always enjoy this race. I presume it’s on TV?
Yes for the TV, as a rough rule it’ll be on the same channel you watched the Tour de France last summer.
For Australian residents SBS usually broadcast it via their Cycling Central website.
I dont think Froome has won Paris-Nice has he?
No, I just mean at this time of year. Froome almost won Tirreno-Adriatico last year, prior to this he won in Oman and then onto Romandie etc to the Tour.
That is the ‘rendez-vous in Belleville’ and not the ‘Belleville rendez-vous’?
Seems like a slightly odd parcours if ASO wants to attract the biggest stage racers, no?
I think it’s designed to attract a different type of racer, it’s as open to Philippe Gilbert as it is to Alejandro Valverde. I think they want lively racing to get audiences up, no matter who is riding.
Excitement?!?!?!? I was looking forward to some robots in black staring at their stem for hours on end 🙁
The format really reminds me of the Tour Down Under: short, varied, and open ended stages, with a circuit attached for spectators. I like this gradual blending of stadium-sport accessibility into the cycling heritage. Excuse the projecting and assumptions, because these two races in particular reflect the projection leaked from the UCI a few months ago–surprised only by how quickly they’re implementing the plan (assuming that’s what’s going on here). If this is their vision of “modernized cycling” I’m quite impressed.
Interesting approach. No uphill finishes can surely lead to less speculative riding. But I don’t like the fact that TTs seem to be on their way to extinction. I still see the balance between climbing and time trialling as the essence of stage racing. If there is a flat TT, and no uphill finishes, then the climbers are obliged to attack long-range. And that’s the epitome of cycling, imho. A TT specialist chasing a climber across the mountains, suffering and dragging his kilos of muscle, in order to save his jersey.
Besides, TTs are great fun to watch… when they are unpredictable. And they used to be very unpredictable… when bike computers provided much less information. TT is one kind of event where this information should not be available to riders. We cannot say this enough.
On the plus side, we note that race organisers are more and more aware of the danger of team-controlled races. If teams don’t get the message, and start to race more offensively as a rule, cycling as a team sport will be challenged.
The ironic thing is regarding computers (pacing devices) and TT’s is the UCI banned pacing devices from track racing. Why is it okay on the road and not on the track? Same question for booties? UCI infinite wisdom on display…
3.2.005 Riders may carry no object on them or on their bicycles that could drop onto the track. They may not
bear or use on the track any music player or radio communication system.
In addition, any electronic device with display (for instance speedometer or powermeter) must be
hidden to that it cannot be read by the riders.
Good question. I suppose they want to keep the track as simple as possible but we see coaching staff giving precise pacing instructions instead.
The problem with TT is that when there are no mountain stages, the winner of the TT is 99% sure also the winner of the GC. There already are dozens of 1 week races that get decided in the TT, I think it’s really boring. Without TT the GC is much more open ended and exciting, being battled over in every stage.
I agree, the thought that the team (domestics) can play a bigger part in orchestrating attacks and real team tactics makes for more interesting racing. Instead of teams waiting for their “GC” guy to open a small gap that ITT may provide, then the team is tasked with chasing down breaks etc. to maintain a lead GC heavy group at the stage finishes to ultimately win these smaller stage races with out any drama.
I agree too, I like ITTs though so support the idea of a prologue plus criterium/sprint finish (ie two short stages) preferably on day one of the race to give variety and ‘bonnification’
I tip Sylvain Chavanel for the win
I agree, new team, new enthusiasm, the team leader rather than super dom for a change, he’ll be up there in every stage.
I’d like to see it but he often thrives when he’s not the leader. Be interesting to see if Gilbert rides.
Hoorah for the prospect of proper bike racing, not the training in the desert piffle and nonsense foisted on us now. It’s seemed a long winter. Can’t wait to see the peloton back on TV.
Like you I look forward to the racing which promises to be technical and tactical… but I admit a liking to the desert races. They’re a literal sandbox for teams to practice drills and race without the dangers of rural European roads.
The desert races always remind me of an episode of scooby doo when they run down a corridor of repeating scenery…
I wonder if this course has been designed with French riders in mind? Gallopin, Barguil, Voeckler etc – punchy riders who can climb ….
One race I really love, Paris Nice. Reminds me Spring is here, hopefully.
Would be interesting to see how this affects riding & if some team would come up with tricks to control this type of race. Mountain finish used to be unpredictable.
Seems like climbers and GC types will be in Italy this week. Nice course for the puncheurs and break away artists. Sandy Casar should have waited one more year to retire !