Key points:

 The route of the 81st edition of Paris-Nice has attracted the current leading lights of stage races: Tour de France winners Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar and Egan Bernal have signed up for a major battle that could start on the first stage in the Yvelines department on Sunday 5th March and continue until the race finishes in Nice on 12th March, including the challenge of the Col de la Couillole on the penultimate day.
 Among the expected challengers, Simon Yates boasts the most convincing record on the Race to the Sun. Watchful eyes will also be on Frenchmen David Gaudu and Romain Bardet for their first major race of the year.
 The sprinters will also have the opportunity to express themselves, especially if they have the capacity to withstand modestly hilly stages, which will be the challenge for Arnaud Démare, Michael Matthews, Sam Bennett, Mads Pedersen, Bryan Coquard, Arnaud De Lie and Tim Merlier, among others.

A well-known trap that can be fallen into is to project the lessons learned on Paris-Nice onto the following edition of the Tour de France. Cycling enthusiasts have been doing so for the last 90 years and will no doubt get carried away again once the finish of the last stage has taken place on the Promenade des Anglais. The list of participants promises a battle between the sport’s leading lights, with top billing for riders such as Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogačar and Egan Bernal, namely the winners of the last four editions of the Tour de France. In 2022, Jumbo-Visma commenced its show of force on the very first day and the team, reinforced this year by the presence of the Danish champion, could again prove to be ready to seize all the opportunities available from the stage in La Verrière onwards. The riders in the black and yellow jerseys are most likely to face fierce opposition from the outset from Tadej Pogačar, who will also be discovering the Race to the Sun, but who has never proved to be timid on a first encounter. The Slovenian, who has been untenable since starting his 2023 season, has somewhat of an edge over his rival of last July, but also over Egan Bernal, who is heading with little certainty into the race on which he launched his winning campaign in 2019.

On the rather particular formula of a time-trial ridden in team format but timed individually, the three most prominent champions will have another opportunity to measure themselves against each other in Dampierre-en-Burly in the Loiret department, as well as the possibility of assessing their rivals’ potential for resistance. Simon Yates, 2nd on Paris-Nice last year, as was the case in 2018, proved to be in great form by winning the queen stage on the Tour Down Under for his debut to the season. As for American Matteo Jorgenson, 8th in 2022, his victory on the Tour of Oman shows that he is making significant progress. They will undoubtedly try to eke out place in the weekend’s battle and specifically on the climb up the Col de la Couillole on Saturday. The best climbers will have the opportunity to show how well they can compare with the three favourites: Frenchmen David Gaudu and Romain Bardet, respectively 4th and 6th on the Tour de France in 2022, will find themselves on terrain that suits them, just like Spaniard Ion Izagirre, who has finished three times in the top 5 on the Race to the Sun (in 2016, 2018 and 2021). Max Schachmann, a two times winner of the event, will have his work cut out to stay in touch with the leaders, whilst the other men in form in February, namely Neilson Powless, Kevin Vauquelin, Aurélien Paret-Peintre or also emerging young star Mattias Skjelmose, will try to capitalise on any chances they get on their way to Nice. For the latter, the virtues of Denmark’s school of cycling are no longer a mystery to anyone…

22 TEAMS, THE MAIN PARTICIPANTS:

Australia
Team Jayco AlUla: S.Yates (Gbr), Matthews, Hamilton (Aus)

Bahrein
Bahrain Victorious: Haig (Aus), Mäder (Swi)

Belgium
Soudal Quick Step: Asgreen (Den), Cavagna (Fra), Merlier (Bel)
Lotto Dstny: De Lie, T.De Gendt (Bel), Sweeny (Aus)
Intermarché-Circus-Wanty: Calmejane, Page (Fra)
Alpecin-Fenix: Kragh Andersen (Den), Groves (Aus)

France
AG2R Citroën Team: Paret-Peintre (Fra), Dewulf, Naesen (Bel)
Cofidis: Coquard, Thomas (Fra), I.Izagirre (Spa)
Groupama-FDJ: Gaudu, Démare (Fra), Küng (Swi)
TotalEnergies: Boasson Hagen (Nor), Latour, Turgis (Fra)
Team Arkea-Samsic: Champoussin, Vauquelin (Fra)

Germany
BORA-hansgrohe: Schachmann (Ger), Bennett (Irl)

Israel
Israel-Premier Tech: Houle (Den), Van Asbroeck (Bel)

Kazakhstan
Astana Qazaqstan Team: Sanchez, De la Cruz (Spa)

Netherlands
Jumbo-Visma: Vingegaard (Den), Dennis (Aus), Laporte (Fra), Foss (Nor)
Team DSM: Bardet (Fra), Degenkolb (Ger)

Norway
Uno-X Pro Cycling Team: Kristoff, Tiller (Nor)

Spain
Movistar Team: Garcia Cortina (Spa), Jorgenson (USA)

United Arab Emirates
UAE Team Emirates: Pogačar (Slo), Majka (Pol), Trentin (Ita), Wellens (Bel)

United Kingdom
Ineos Grenadiers: Bernal, Martinez (Col), Fraile (Spa), Hayter (Gbr)

USA
EF Education-Easypost: Powless (USA), Cort (Den), Bisseger (Swi)
Trek-Segafredo: Pedersen, Skjelmose (Den)

Historical series: trial balloons

Stage race organizers sometimes innovate in the way they run time trials. This year, Paris-Nice is experimenting with a special style of team time trial, with the times achieved by each rider being used for the stage classification. An individual time trial run by teams, in short, is a strange idea. But the history of cycling is not lacking in unusual attempts at time trials. The official website of Paris-Nice offers an overview of the most creative initiatives: the „separate starts“ in the 1920s; the preface of the 1988 Tour; or, closer to our time, the chrono-pursuit raced by women in Marseille in 2017, etc.
The first two episodes can be found here: https://www.paris-nice.fr/en/paris-nice-trial-balloons