Key points:
The 82nd edition of Paris-Nice takes on an unprecedented dimension as it kicks off the racing season, with one of the highlights playing out once again just a stone’s throw from the Promenade des Anglais, with the final finish of the Tour de France. 2022 Paris-Nice winner, Primož Roglič aims to join the club of winners of the three major cycling tours this year and kicks off his campaign on the ‚Race to the Sun‘, with Remco Evenepoel his main rival. The Belgian champion will compete in his first French stage race from 3 to 10 March.
Several contenders are in a position to join the expected duel, including David Gaudu, Carlos Rodríguez, João Almeida, Mattias Skjelmose and Matteo Jorgenson. They will all have to be on peak form for the decisive stages of the Auxerre time trial, the centre-piece stage to the Auron resort and the final stage, which is invariably indomitable, in the Nice region.
Numerous sprinters have spotted the opportunities to be seized on the Race to the Sun, with a variety of profiles giving a chance to the likes of Mads Pedersen, Arnaud De Lie, Bryan Coquard, Dylan Groenewegen, Fabio Jakobsen, Arnaud Démare, Olav Kooij and Sam Bennett.
Primoz Roglic has already had an eventful Paris-Nice career despite only having participated twice in this leading European event. On his debut in 2021, he masterfully took command, winning three stages and rode in the leader’s jersey on the race’s final day, when he lost all his advantage in the last 25 kilometres following a crash. But the Slovenian is an honourable loser. He returned the following year and was almost as imperious to get his revenge, with the precious help of Wout van Aert as his ideal deputy. This year, the three-time Vuelta winner has chosen Paris-Nice to debut his BORA-hansgrohe jersey and kick off his conquest of the Tour de France. The reunion with the Race to the Sun will also be a reunion with one of his closest rivals on the roads of Spain since Remco Evenepoel triumphed there in 2022, mostly battling with him. The Belgian champion has set himself the same challenge as his closest rival with a view to July 2024 and, more specifically, the finish line in Nice for the Tour’s final finish. The Soudal-Quick Step leader got a head start by scheduling his first competition in Portugal, where he won the Tour of the Algarve for the third time, with a show of strength in the Albufeira time trial that certainly didn’t go unnoticed. And it may well be in Auxerre, in the time trial format that was tried out in 2023 (contested by team, timed individually), that the Olympic champion and the world champion in the speciality will pit their forces in a duel that could continue just until Nice, with surprises to be expected on Mont Brouilly (stage 4) or on the way up to the Auron resort (stage 7).
The match in question could see many other contenders, starting with David Gaudu, who was as convincing as ever during his 2023 Paris-Nice, finishing in 2nd place between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. This year, the UAE team’s best chances are Joāo Almeida and Brandon McNulty, while Visma | Lease a Bike will count on its off-season recruit Matteo Jorgenson. For Ineos Grenadiers, Carlos Rodríguez, 5th in the 2023 Tour de France, has been given the task of taking over from Egan Bernal (winner of the 2019 Paris-Nice) at the age of 23, with Joshua Tarling, the peloton’s most promising rouleur, providing valuable support in the time trial. Twenty-three-year-old Danish champion Mattias Skjelmose has already proven himself at the WorldTour level by winning last year’s Tour of Switzerland (ahead of Ayuso and Evenepoel!) and will arrive in the Les Yvelines with lofty ambitions. It is the same story for Austrian Felix Gall with Decathlon-Ag2r, Ion Izagirre (3rd in 2021) with Cofidis or Pello Bilbao with Bahrain Victorious.
The stage chasers may not have the same objectives on the horizon for the finish in Nice. But they also have some proper prospects, with sprints of various types conceivable in Les Mureaux (stage 1), Montargis (stage 2), Sisteron (stage 5), and why not in La Colle-sur-Loup (stage 6). Mads Pedersen, winner of the Etoile de Bessèges and the Tour de la Provence, could add to his small collection of trophies won on French roads, especially Paris-Nice, given his impressive start to the season. Arnaud De Lie has equivalent qualities, as do Michael Matthews and Bryan Coquard. But world-class sprinters Dylan Groenewegen, Olav Kooij, Fabio Jakobsen, Arnaud Démare, Sam Bennett and Kaden Groves will also be riders to watch out for.
22 TEAMS, THE MAIN CONTENDERS:
Australia
Team Jayco AlUla: Plapp, Matthews (Aus), Groenewegen (Nld)
Bahrain
Bahrain Victorious: Bilbao (Esp), Buitrago (Col), Haig (Aus)
Belgium
Soudal Quick Step: Evenepoel (Bel), Cattaneo, Moscon (Ita)
Lotto Dstny: De Lie, Campenaerts (Bel)
Intermarché-Wanty: Calmejane, Petit (Fra), Zimmermann (Deu)
Alpecin-Deceuninck : Kragh Andersen (Den), Groves (Aus)
France
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale: Gall (Aut), Bennett (Irl), A.Paret-Peintre (Fra)
Cofidis: Coquard, Thomas (Fra), I.Izagirre (Esp)
Groupama-FDJ: Gaudu (Fra), Bystrom (Nor)
TotalEnergies: Burgaudeau, Latour, Turgis (Fra)
Arkea-B&B Hotels: Démare, Champoussin, Sénéchal (Fra)
Germany
BORA-hansgrohe: Roglic (Svn), Sobrero (Ita), Vlasov (Rus)
Israel
Israel-Premier Tech: Fuglsang (Dnk), Ackermann (Deu), Hofstetter (Fra)
Kazakhstan
Astana Qazaqstan Team: Lutsenko (Kaz), Charmig (Dnk)
Spain
Movistar Team: Lazkano (Esp), Cavagna (Fra)
Switzerland
Tudor Pro Cycling Team: Storer (Aus), Trentin (Ita), De Kleijn (Nld)
The Netherlands
Team Visma | Lease a Bike: Jorgenson (Usa), Kooij, Kelderman (Nld)
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL: Jakobsen (Nld)
United Arab Emirates
UAE Team Emirates: Almeida (Prt), McNulty (USA), Fisher-Black (Nzl), Sivakov (Fra), Vine (Aus)
United Kingdom
Ineos Grenadiers: Rodriguez, Fraile (Esp), Tarling (Gbr)
United States
EF Education-Easypost: Uran (Col), Valgren (Dnk), Bisseger (Che)
Lidl-Trek: Pedersen, Skjelmose (Dnk)