2014 Paris Nice parcours - the verdict

[will10]

So now the race is done, what did we think of ASO's left-field parcours for this year's Paris-Nice?

Personally, I think it worked out better than many of us expected it to on paper. It didn't completely go down to bonus seconds, it was quite interesting to see different names up front etc. I don't expect the ASO to stick with this particular "formula" but as a change to mix it up? I don't think I'd be too sorry to see a similar route in a few years.

Overlooking the last minute Porte withdrawal, I think it's fair to say that the parcours design cost them a few of the bigger GC guys. On that note I would expect a TT (at least a prologue) and a summit finish/semi-mountain stage or two next year to try and catch the eye of a contender or two.

 

[BigMac]

Overall the racing and the race itself were quite good. I'd certainly enjoy a P-N without a single MTF for the rest of its days. And no TT was also a +.

Keep it up ASO, and we can only wait for echelons next year.

 

[roundabout]

Without 2 breaks somehow making it to the end it would have been a complete failure.

Please toughen up the route next time for an all road stage edition.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I think the parcours works ok (with tweaks here and there) except the three flat stages at the beginning. Banking on wind just doesn't work unless a little hedge is built in. Add something on at least one of them. Or cancel on of the stages.

My main issue is team size. Reduce it to six. Team strength is a real problem particularly if only "non alien" riders take part.

Have T-A continue as a "GT/GC" battle and let PN move towards classic territory. And then fix the calendar issue.

 

[jens_attacks]

i want col d'eze itt back and a mtf every edition...this was eneco tour, maybe worse

 

[Orbit501]

On balance, I quite liked it. Made a nice change.

I liked the continuous little attacks off the front and the fact there was no TT. Shame Thomas crashed out and Slagter & Kelderman had that mechanical, but Bentancur is on good form on parcours that suit him anyway.

Even Frank Schleck enjoyed himself!

 

[Parrulo]

Without 2 breaks somehow making it to the end it would have been a complete failure.

Please toughen up the route next time for an all road stage edition.

^^this

This year PN is the perfect example of a brilliant idea being poorly executed.

 

[Echoes]

GT-tards will have to learn that Paris-Nice, just like Tirreno, are meant to be springboards for Milan-Sanremo and nothing else.

So no mountain and no ITT but hills and some long stages, are perfect. Just need a flat ITT to separate, otherwise it's good.

Besides, adding an MTF, of necessity, is making a race boring. Remember 2010 ...

 

[Escarabajo]

It needs to be tougher.

 

[Christian]

I didn't see all the stages, but the ones I saw I liked a lot. Even the sprint stage that finished on the race track was fun. I liked the fact that there was no TT, and the lack of a MTF did not bother me in the slightest. Steeper and longer climbs do not automatically make for more exciting racing. It seems to me that all of the stages were hard, and it was one of the longest parcours in the history of Paris-Nice.

Of course the riders make the race, and it certainly helped that Froome and Porte were absent, that Nibali was not in great shape, that the top-3 sprinters weren't there... made for unpredictable racing and gave us the chance to discover what some of the youngsters are really capable of. Some might call "calamity!" that someone like Rojas got 4th, but who cares what Paris-Nice is "supposed to be", it was hard racing for a week and the best rider won.

Besides, adding an MTF, of necessity, is making a race boring.

Agreed...

 

[rhubroma]

Having lived in Biot many moons ago, I absolutely loved it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Having lived in Biot many moons ago, I absolutely loved it.

They finished in Biot in 2011, and that was probably the worst Paris-Nice in living memory.

 

[manafana]

well i for one liked it, having no stand out stage made every day bit tense as one bad day lost it and no one good day won it.

 

[burning]

I like the idea but the execution was a bit poor, still It was still better than previous 3-4 editions.

 

[rhubroma]

They finished in Biot in 2011, and that was probably the worst Paris-Nice in living memory.

So blame it on poor Biot.

The rides to Antibes, Vallauris, Grasse, Valbonne, Gordon, St. Paul de Vence, Sospel, Pielle, etc. though were magical.

 

[veji11]

I quite liked it. Overall it was very intense every day, and from wednesday on, on the last 5 stages the last 30ks were always full of attacks. Quite a few lessons to be learned for ASO : Such a design course can work, and with some tweaks, it could have been really good. One has to remember also that the weather was particularly clement this year. With colder temperatures and some rain, stages in the first half of the race could have been more taxing for the bodies, and steeper prices might have been paid later on.

One point I liked is not having a very selective up hill or Mt Finish. I have always liked descent finishes, and when there is no MTF to pinpoint for the leaders, it makes the race more open. Even a Mende type MTF would have seen a Porte staying in the race to apply the well known Skyrocket method.

Last couple of points : with such a route, having a few stages where you have a bonus sprint at 30 ks from the end might lead to some already hard fight, tiring the legs for the endgame. Second, this type of route with teams of 6 would have been really awesome, forcing leaders to take even more initiative and making controlling the race for AG2R for example quite harder.

Overall better than the last 4 editions of PN, and good idea to be kept in mind. Doesn't mean a Col d'Eze ITT shouldn't happen next year, for example, but I wouldn't mind seeing that type of route every second year for example.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

It is good that week long stage races can sometimes construe themselves as something other than a mini-GT and get a good race out of it. This race and Eneco last year showed it can be successful: often it is not, but I'm glad it is tried at times.

As ever, 20% what the course designers create, 30% what the DSs insist on, 35% riders doing what they do based on form and fitness, and 15% fate.

 

[Kwibus]

Without 2 breaks somehow making it to the end it would have been a complete failure.

Please toughen up the route next time for an all road stage edition.

Yes, but the 2 breaks making it was also because the route allowed them to make it!

Route surprised me. Stage 2 & 3 if there was wind would've been chaos as well.
Imo atleast 1 hilly stage could've been made quite a bit harder though.

 

[trevim]

A TT on the last stage and Rui Costa would have won. Back to reality now, it was a good race. It lacked a bit more selection otherwise it was a perfectly fine route.

 

[Jancouver]

I like it a lot. Very exciting racing IMO. No reason for every stage race to be a climbers race. Perfect race for the "roulleurs". Cancellara, Sagan and few others should switch to PN in stead of Tirreno if the race structure is similar next year.

 

[Afrank]

It worked out fairly well I think. Had some good racing that was a change from the usual MTF and TT's as deciding factors in GC. And opened up the door to riders other then just climbers and GC guys. Would be nice if we had had some of the other classic guys like Cance and Sagan show up.

The route I think achieved ASO's main goal, but some improvement's could definitely be made to it. Like add a couple more really hilly stages (ones that would allow a break to survive would be good), or a stage like Sant'Elpidio at TA last year, or a really technical descent. And some improvements could have been made to placement of different types of stages. Not place all the sprints at the beginning for example.

A prologue to start if off wouldn't be too bad also. A short and technical one with plenty of corners would be good.

 

[hfer07]

A more challenging would have been fantastic- I did love the concept of no MTF at all, so the roulleurs can play their cards & have a fair chance to succeed

 

[Jspear]

It was ok. For me personally, I have enjoyed Tirreno(especially after today) way more than PN. I enjoy watching Grand Tour riders duking it out on mountains more than watching classics. I still like classics and all, I just prefer a stage race with parcours like Tirreno more. If the ASO was going for a classics type race than I would say they did a pretty good job. The only thing I would critique is their attitude when Porte left. With these sort of parcours they will need to be content with "big" name gt riders racing elsewhere. What else would you expect? Tirreno was more suited to them this year. Overall I'd give it a 6.5/10.

 

[Pippo_San]

I mean JJ Rojas ended 4th FFS.

This alone speaks volumes about the ridiculousness of the course.

 

[Jancouver]

I mean JJ Rojas ended 4th FFS.

This alone speaks volumes about the ridiculousness of the course.

Whats wrong with that?

So based on your standards every stage of every stage race should end up with a 30% wall so we can all watch the same guys week after week racing for a MTF?

Perhaps we should also stop calling it "cycling" and rename the sport to MounainTopFinishing