Paris-Nice is traditionally seen as the first important stage race of the season. In the past, everything prior to this event would have been accused of being a training race or a gentle introduction to the rhythm of competition. But nowadays there’s no such thing. A rider can’t turn up to any race expecting a controlled first half with a bit of racing towards the end, mainly involving the poor souls who been training extensively through the bleak winter for the Classics.
A ten-day training camp and a few too many kilos might have been acceptable back then, but that largesse doesn’t cut it nowadays and everyone has to turn up ready for action. If you’re not, then you won’t even be considered for the big test that is Paris-Nice. So when any rider makes the selection we can assume that their squad thinks they have something to offer on the journey down to the Cote d’Azur.
There are always the standout competitors, though, and this 82nd edition of Paris-Nice sees two from the ‘Big Four’ present and they will be the focal point for most of the attention given it’s the first time any of that quartet face off before the Tour de France. Last year we had Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard fighting it out and this year we have the other two amigos, Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič, to entertain us.
It should be an interesting contest in terms of confidence building for the Slovenian who, let’s remember, has stepped outside of the dominant Visma structure, and for Remco, who hopes to be on the podium in Nice not only here but in July, when another, altogether bigger tour of the French countryside reaches its conclusion.
Evenepoel arrives in rather fine form. In six days of racing this year he’s been on the podium five times, raised his arms aloft in victory celebration for half of them and he took the overall win at the Volta ao Algarve for the third time. A none-too-shabby set of statistics, to say the least.
Roglič, on the other hand, begins his season and makes his first appearance for his new team Bora-Hansgrohe when he appears on the start line in Les Mureaux on Sunday. As a previous winner of Pais-Nice back in 2022, he knows how to ride this race successfully, but even he’ll be aware that the task this time around will require his best form and the full support of that new team.
Luckily, Bora agree that the signing of a Tour de France challenger merits proper back-up, so he has a strong squad that includes Aleksandr Vlasov as his…
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