Paris Nice route leaked

[Netserk]

In the true tradition

While the last edition of Paris-Nice broke with tradition offering a straight route from the first to the last kilometre of the race, the 73rd edition of the Race to the Sun will mark a return to tradition for the first major stage race of the European season: a prologue, a summit finish and a final sprint to the Col d'?ze.

Everything will be in place to make this an exceptional edition, from Sunday 8th to Sunday 15th March, and even more so, as Saint-Pour?ain-sur-Sioule, Rasteau and their vineyards will also feature on the agenda. In addition, there will be a finish in Saint-Amand-Montrond, which was the setting for a classic bordure formation on the 2013 Tour and looks likely to be a thrilling central part of the race. The pace will be set right from the start in Maurepas in Yvelines, with a prologue of nearly 7 kilometres over hilly terrain.

By the end of the first day, the rider wearing the Yellow Jersey could well have a head start. The sprinters will then have free rein to express themselves (unless there is a bordure formation! for two stages where we will see the peloton leave from Saint-R?my-l?s-Chevreuse, arrive in Contres and then set off from the ZooParc in Beauval Saint-Aignan. But the toughest part of the race, having set off from Varennes-sur-Allier and prior to the Col d'?ze, will undoubtedly be the final unparalleled ascent of the Croix de Chaubouret. A climb associated with no lesser riders than Ferdi K?bler and Greg LeMond on the Tour de France. The next day the Department of Loire will have pride of place as the race will set off from Saint ?tienne.

The penultimate stage in the Nice hinterland also promises to be tricky from the start in Vence, followed by the Col de Vence, the Col de Saint-Roch and the C?te de Peille, before arriving in Nice from the eastern side of the capital of the French Riviera. So will the race be over by this stage? Nothing could be further from the truth, and the climb to ?ze will be the ultimate deciding factor.

Christian Prudhomme

http://www.letour.fr/paris-nice/2015/us/pre-race/news/ahc/in-the-true-tradition.html

 

[Netserk]

Only three of the stages have a profile

 

[pastronef]

Turini is 1600 meters high, maybe a bit high for beginning of March. the Castillon and Madone have little tunnels and not very good road surface.
Aso will go the easy way with col de Vence and some other little ones, La Turbie or Peille

I was right. I got Vence, Peille and Turbie

http://www.letour.fr/paris-nice/2015/us/stage-6.html

 

[Netserk]

I was right. I got Vence, Peille and Turbie

http://www.letour.fr/paris-nice/2015/us/stage-6.html

I'm not so sure that I would count Turbie



EDIT: I actually think the Nice stage is quite fine, but it's not fine that it's followed by the Eze TT. Overall I prefer last year's format.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

A classic Paris-Nice route with all the right ingredients. Beautiful.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Difficult to fault three stages which covers MTT, MTF and a descent finish as part of a 1 week race.

Now its up to the riders to provide the action, hopefully something a bit more than a little sprint at the biz end of the mass start stages.

Its a pity PN back tracked on the concept they initiated last year, but I think that concept requires some deeper modification to the peloton strength to really make it work well.

 

[jens_attacks]

i like it too

 

[Bavarianrider]

Prolog should be a little longer, besides that it is avery good Paris Nice route

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Better than last year, but the prologue is short, it would be better a time trial of 10-15 kms.

 

[Roude Leiw]

Very nice route, happy that they did not too obviously cater to Bardet/Pinot, good route for Peraud though.

Short prologue is good, will calm the field a bit for the sprint stages. Will there be bonus seconds?

 

[MatParker117]

Difficult to fault three stages which covers MTT, MTF and a descent finish as part of a 1 week race.

Now its up to the riders to provide the action, hopefully something a bit more than a little sprint at the biz end of the mass start stages.

Its a pity PN back tracked on the concept they initiated last year, but I think that concept requires some deeper modification to the peloton strength to really make it work well.

Saw the race of reduced sprints a mile off last year when that route was announced.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

I didn't mind the concept of last year too much, but I did mind how they materialized the concept, because the hilly stages they designed were generally pretty poor to be honest. I wouldn't mind a week long stage race mostly composed of hilly stages, but the at least make them properly selective and not stages that are all expected to be reduced bunch sprints. The only race that made a bit of an impression on me last year was the stage with Slagter and Thomas in a break after the final hill.

To be honest, both PN and TA seem to be kind of boring this year. Not necessarily bad, but the only really good stage that I've seen so far from them is the medium mountain stage in TA. That ones great. The rest are just pretty straightforward and predictable.

 

[veji11]

A very classic route, but sometimes there is nothing wrong with classic : 1 Prologue for specialists, 3 sprints, 2 stages for the favourites (Chabouret and Eze ITT) and 2 more unpredictable ones that could go to a breakaway, a small sprint of even see some unlikely GC action (Rasteau and Nice). Still a shame teams have 8 riders. all one week race would be so much better with 6 riders per team, it would allow more movement.

I liked last year's concept, although it was a bit soft in execution. I hope to see it again, mixing it up is always nice. It doesn't mean classics have to be discarded : a classic route like this one is perfectly fine too, just not every year. Variety is the salt here.

 

[Coat-O]

A very classic route, but sometimes there is nothing wrong with classic : 1 Prologue for specialists, 3 sprints, 2 stages for the favourites (Chabouret and Eze ITT) and 2 more unpredictable ones that could go to a breakaway, a small sprint of even see some unlikely GC action (Rasteau and Nice). Still a shame teams have 8 riders. all one week race would be so much better with 6 riders per team, it would allow more movement.

I liked last year's concept, although it was a bit soft in execution. I hope to see it again, mixing it up is always nice. It doesn't mean classics have to be discarded : a classic route like this one is perfectly fine too, just not every year. Variety is the salt here.

It's definitely more likely that there will be GC action on the last stage (which is kinda tricky and hard) than not. Other than that, I agree with you! Great race. One of the best small stage races of the year.

And a lot of underdog players are about equal in strength.

How would you guy rate these 20 contenders against each other: Bardet, P?raud, Talansky, Porte, Majka, Aru, Tejay, Kelderman, Costa, Frank, Navarro, Ten Dam, Schleck, Fuglsang, Barguil, Zubeldia, Roche, Kiserlovski, Machado and Rolland.

 

[Netserk]

With the MTT the next day, I don't think anyone in the top-5 will make a move.

Porte is the big favourite. It will be interesting if Majka will be in (very) good form here, given that he won't ride the Giro.

 

[roundabout]

Lol at the squashed profiles.As funny as the 25% section on one of the climbs announced last year.

 

[veji11]

With the MTT the next day, I don't think anyone in the top-5 will make a move.

Porte is the big favourite. It will be interesting if Majka will be in (very) good form here, given that he won't ride the Giro.

Problem for the Nice stage is going to be teams's strength, aka number of riders. No one is going to make a move if the leader (say Porte) still has 2/3 strong teammates around him to put up a high tempo. But if you only have one teammate left earlier, than initiatives are possible.

 

[May0maniac]

It's definitely more likely that there will be GC action on the last stage (which is kinda tricky and hard) than not. Other than that, I agree with you! Great race. One of the best small stage races of the year.

And a lot of underdog players are about equal in strength.

How would you guy rate these 20 contenders against each other: Bardet, P?raud, Talansky, Porte, Majka, Aru, Tejay, Kelderman, Costa, Frank, Navarro, Ten Dam, Schleck, Fuglsang, Barguil, Zubeldia, Roche, Kiserlovski, Machado and Rolland.

The Sky guys, Tejay and Talansky if they have decent form, Peraud and Rui Costa should be the favourites, Frank could also end up in the top 5. The climbs and the MTT aren't hard enough for a guy like Aru and Zubeldia normally isn't that good in the early season.

 

[pastronef]

I'm not so sure that I would count Turbie

yes, from Peille (a nice 7 km climb with many little hairpins) they hit Turbie downhill (I was there last week)

Nice to see St.Roch too.

 

[jens_attacks]

this will be between richie and bradley

 

[MatParker117]

Problem for the Nice stage is going to be teams's strength, aka number of riders. No one is going to make a move if the leader (say Porte) still has 2/3 strong teammates around him to put up a high tempo. But if you only have one teammate left earlier, than initiatives are possible.

If that teammate is Kiri who set a blistering pace for miles in 2013 then they are not.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I didn't mind the concept of last year too much, but I did mind how they materialized the concept, because the hilly stages they designed were generally pretty poor to be honest. I wouldn't mind a week long stage race mostly composed of hilly stages, but the at least make them properly selective and not stages that are all expected to be reduced bunch sprints. The only race that made a bit of an impression on me last year was the stage with Slagter and Thomas in a break after the final hill.

To be honest, both PN and TA seem to be kind of boring this year. Not necessarily bad, but the only really good stage that I've seen so far from them is the medium mountain stage in TA. That ones great. The rest are just pretty straightforward and predictable.

T-A 2010-1 was a good example of getting a week long race of hilly stages just about right, although the GC being settled on placements in 2010 was a bit of a letdown, although in fairness Garzelli sprinting for those bonus seconds at the intermediates in what was supposed to be a parade stage was quite cool I guess. Scarponi shouldn't have showboated to the line in Chieti.

 

[McLovin]

Lol at the squashed profiles.As funny as the 25% section on one of the climbs announced last year.

That was Dauphine, on Barrage d'Emosson.

 

[Netserk]

That was Dauphine, on Barrage d'Emosson.

 

[McLovin]

Aa, I forgot about this. Anyway, the last half of km on Emosson was with an average gradient of 28% but they corrected it during the race IIRC.