Category: Previews

Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert > Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut 188.7km A big old day in the mountains. With 3381m of climbing, this is the hardest stage in the race, but will it be a day for the GC riders? We have three cat 1 climbs, a cat 2, a cat 3 and an uncategorised bump cresting with 8km to go. Normally...

Murlo > Terni 170.4km 2083m of climbing in this stage, it’s going to be another sprint. Weather Sun and nice temperatures. There’s a lot of crosswind throughout the day, but apart from between km55 and km75, the route is well protected by trees. There is no point trying to split it. Finale We have four...

Domérat > Montluçon 13.3km ITT 13.3km in length and 198m of climbing. It’s not a hard TT, but it’s still tricky.  You can see that the road is rarely flat. The opening 4km is mainly uphill, the next 8km is the easy section, before a little wall at the finish. This wall is 500m at...

Vierzon > Dun-le-Palestel 190.6km After today’s crazy stage, this one should be a calmer affair. The second half of the stage is constantly up and down and the race finishes with one lap of a circuit around the finishing town. This circuit is harder than it looks, particularly as it takes place on narrow roads....

Camaiore > Sovicille 219km Stage 2 is the first of the sprint stages, and it’s a long day in the saddle. 220km is perfect for those looking to get racing kilometres in the legs for some of the classics that are fast approaching. No doubt, the race will follow a familiar pattern. We’ll see a...

Auffargis > Orléans 159.2km Get ready for echelon heaven! We head south from Paris, through wide open roads, everyone knows what’s going to happen. Weather Cold and sunny. The wind will be around 20-25km/h and will come from the east. That means pure crosswind for almost the whole day. It’s going to be carnage. Tactics...

Lido di Camaiore 13.9km ITT Out and back, very reminiscent of a club TT but this one features some of the finest TT riders in the world.  With just a couple of corners, this TT is all about power.  Weather Consistent for all. It’ll be sunny and feel nice with temperatures at 11 degrees. There...

No TTT, the ITT is the first stage, and we finish with a sprint. The organisers have gone mad! The big news is the lack of a mountaintop finish, it’s always good to see races trying new approaches, hopefully we get an attacking race. Five of the top six from last year’s Tour are here,...

Mantes-la-Ville > Mantes-la-Ville 159.7km Very much a classical opening stage of Paris-Nice. We have a chance of echelons, some punchy climbs, a chance for the puncheurs and hope for the sprinters. As I said, a classic opening stage of Paris-Nice. Weather Cold and sunny with a wind of 15-20km/h coming from the north-east. There is...

Siena > Siena 184km Same route as previous years, no need to change anything. This is one of the best races of the year, it rarely fails to deliver. Will it follow a similar path to previous years? Unfortunately, several riders have dropped out in the last 24 hours, it’s a shame we won’t see...