International Race Previews Paris-Nice
Europe's first major stage race of the year, the 70th edition of Paris-Nice, starts in Dampierre-en- Yvelines on Sunday 4thMarch, finishing a week later on the legendary Col d'Èze.
The race to the sun heralds the start of the European stage race season and this year features eight stages totalling a little over 1,155 kilometres. Last year's edition was won by German TonyMartin who took the race lead on stage six after winning the individual time trial by 20 seconds from Britain's BradleyWiggins.
That performance fromWiggins propelled him into the top three overall. The Team Sky rider managed to hold on over the last two days to record Britain's best result in the race since Chris Boardman's third place in 1996.
Other notable results by British riders include three top ten finishes for RobertMillar (sixth in 1984 and 1985, ninth in 1988) and a win for Tom Simpson in 1967 – so far the only victory for a British cyclist in the race.
The record for overall victories belongs to Ireland's Sean Kelly, who triumphed on seven occasions between 1982 and 1988. Kelly's countryman, Steven Roche, has also won the race, in 1981, meaning that the Irish dominated the event during the 1980s.
The importance of Paris-Nice should not be underestimated despite its early calendar slot. This is no mere
leg-warmer.Ascroll through the list of
Tirreno-Adriatico Astrong peloton is predicted to line up at the start
of 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico in San Vincenzo on 7th March.
Amongst the expected starters are 2011 Tour de France champion and last year's winner Cadel Evans, multiple classics victor Philippe Gilbert, TT machine Fabian Cancellara and reigning world championMark Cavendish.
The race starts with a 16.9km, pan flat team time
previous winners reads like a who's who of professional road racing with Louison Bobet (1952); JacquesAnquetil (1957, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966); EddyMerckx (1969, 1970, 1971); Raymond Poulidor (1972, 1973); Joop Zoetemelk (1975, 1975, 1979);Miguel Indurain (1989, 1990) andAlberto Contador (2007, 2010) all having taken home the race's leader's jersey.
This year's edition is bookended by two short individual time trials. The first, from Dampierre- en-Yvelines to Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, is just 9.4km long and flat. The race then heads south via stage finishes in Orleans and Le Lac de Vassivière, birthplace of Poulidor and host to the Tour de France in 1985, 1990 and 1995.
From there it is into theMidi-Pyrénées for a finish in Rodez before a 178km stage from Onet-le- Château toMende, the finish coming at the end of a 3km climb up La Croix Neuve (Montee Laurent Jalabert) whereAlberto Contador won in 2010 to take a grip on the race, taking over custody of the leader's jersey and holding on for the overall win four days later.
FromMende the race heads
south-east.After a finish and overnight stop in Sisteron, the riders then have the longest stage of the race to contend with on the penultimate day, a 220km ride from Sisteron to Nice and a finish on the Promenade desAnglais. In previous years that sprint along the famous boulevard would have brought the curtain down on the race, but not this year forASO have opted to resurrect the Col d'Eze time trial for the race's final stage.
The Col d'Eze has long been part of the legend of
trial from San Vincenzo to Donoratico. Stages two and three will be underlined in red pen in the notebooks of the peloton's sprinters as finishes pretty much nailed on to end in bunch sprints, before the race heads into altogether hillier terrain.
Stage four, a gruelling 252km slog fromAmelia takes in three classified climbs, including the 1,310m high, 12km long, Passo Lanciano, before an uphill finish in the city of Chieti.
Three more classified climbs lie in wait on stage
five, a 196km ride starting inMartinsicuro. The stage features the race's only mountaintop finish, a 14.5km climb to 1,450m and the ski resort of Prati di Tivo.
The race of two seas concludes with a rolling stage six, where Gilbert will be looking for the victory, before a final, short, individual time trial along the coast of theAdriatic sea.
The 2012 Tirreno-Adriatico runs from 7thMarch to 13thMarch 2012.
Paris-Nice, featuring as the race's climax from 1968 to 1995, but it has had a ten year absence, last featuring in 2001. Then, it featured on the penultimate day and the time trial was won by Italian Dario Frigo, giving him the leader's jersey in the process.
Race Director, Christian Prudhomme said, "This route should guarantee suspense right to the end." Whilst the start list had not been confirmed as we went to press, riders to look out for include last year's winner TonyMartin (Omega Pharma – QuickStep) and his team-mate Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Klöden (Radioshack-Nissan) and of course Wiggins who will be looking to build on his podium in 2011 to add Paris-Nice to the Criterium du Dauphine on his list of stage race wins.
The 70th Paris Nice runs from 4thMarch to 11th March 2012.
List of stages: Stage 1: Sun 4March, Dampierre-en-Yvelines to Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, 9.4 km ITT. Stage 2:Mon 5March,Mantes-la-Jolie to Orléans, 185 km. Stage 3: Tue 6March,Vierzon to Le Lac de Vassivière, 194 km. Stage 4:Wed 7March, Brive-la-Gaillarde to Rodez, 183 km. Stage 5:Thur 8March, Onet-le-Château toMende, 178 km. Stage 6: Fri 9March,
Suze-la-Rousse to
Sisteron, 176.5 km. Stage 7:Sat 10March, Sisteron to Nice, 220 km. Stage 8: Sun 11March, Nice to Col d'Èze, 9.6 km ITT.
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