Paris-Nice 2023 route, step by step

Who will catch Primoz Roglic in the Race to the Sun? The Slovenian, who underwent shoulder surgery this winter, may not return to competition until the end of March. Participation in Paris-Nice therefore appears compromised, especially as his team-mate, Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard, has already hinted that he will be in Europe at the start of his first major World Tour stage race. It was presented at Versailles this Thursday. On the program: three stages for sprinters, two stages for backpackers, a rather special team time trial and a final weekend designed for climbers near Nice.

As tradition dictates, the race will start from the department of Yvelines with the first stage in the form of a loop around La Verriere. Despite the windy roads and some difficult climbs, this appetizer should not scare the sprinters who are used to dominating at the beginning of the event (Dylan Groenewegen 2019, Sam Bennett 2021 , Christophe Laporte of the Jumbo-Visma festival, who took three steps of the podium at the end of last year). The last shot listed is over twenty kilometers from the finish line.

Often on the second day of the Paris-Nice race, the wind will be the main challenger to the favorites in the stage that will take the peloton (on the outside, David Gaudu lost ten minutes after falling last year). to Fontainebleau, where the sprinter had to raise his arms again.

For the first time in thirty years and at the 1993 edition of ONCE, a Roanne victory will be the team’s time trial in the Paris-Nice program. Exceptionally long (32.2 km) on straight roads with long straights, it also includes a funny innovation, as the time will be taken on the first, not the 4th or 5th runner to cross the line!

This significantly changes the tactical approach of training: one group may choose to finish with six or seven runners, while another will give everything for the best pedestrian. This rule change allows, for example, Groupama-FDJ to ask its top rider Stefan Küng to sacrifice himself for overall leader David Gaudu, putting him under the red flame.

An uneven stage in the form of a wake-up call to Julian Alaphilippe, as this stage will start from his hometown of Saint-Amand-Montrond and, after a difficult climb, will end in Loge des Gardes, the most winter sports resort near Paris. (7.1% at 6.7 km), not seen in the event. The last 50 kilometers will feature two other difficulties, the Vernet coast (2.1 km 5.8%) and the Cheval Rigon coast (5.7 km, 3.9%).

The peloton tackles a marathon stage of 212 km, where the first three challenges should allow for an exciting breakthrough from the start. Teams of sprinters will then be responsible for controlling the gap and crossing the Côte d’Aleyrac, around thirty terminals. line. The finish will be in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, in Drôme Provence.

As the final fireworks approach, the most explosive fighters of the peloton will be rewarded in this 6th stage, which will gather almost by the sea in La Colle-sur-Loup near Nice. The five difficulties listed in the program, including the Côte de Cabris and its transition of 20% and in the last circuit, the Côte de la Colle-sur-Loup, with an average of 10% and a transition with a bonus sprint of 19% at its peak. The last 20 km will be downhill.

The spectacular mountain stage of the Race to the Sun will see the favorites split on the slopes of the Col de la Couillole, which in 2017 became the highest finish in the race’s history (Richie Porte was there then and Julian Alaphilippe was). , the leader of the event lost his yellow shirt there). Six years later, the peloton will start from Nice and return there as an epilogue to the day when the coast of Tourette-du-Château will dominate the formation of the breakaway. But the 15 km long final climb will probably crown a cador.

A stage of all possibilities, the shortest and often the most beautiful of the Race to the Sun. Last year, Primoz Roglic needed Wout Van Aert, who had some great days, to hang on to his yellow jersey in a string of passes in the Nice hinterland. This time there will be at least five: three category 2 climbs in the first 50 kilometers, then the Peille coast (6.6 km 6.8%) and finally the Col d’Eze (6 km 7.6%), the summit Promenade des Anglais- will be located 15 km from the finish line.