Male Team 07 - 14 Mar
Paris-Nice
1168 Kilometers 8 Stages
All stages will be broadcast live on Eurosport / GCN+.
There will be 10-6-4″ available at all road stages, plus 3-2-1″ at intermediate sprints.
The Abarca Sports has five overall victories to its name in Paris-Nice, obtained by Miguel Indurain (1989, 1990), Jeff Bernard (1992), Luis León Sánchez (2009) and Marc Soler (2018).
When you head towards the start of Paris-Nice, you usually know in advance what you can expect. Flat, windy roads in northern France; some lumps in the beginning of the race; an individual time trial to set the first real time gaps; hilly terrain in the Massif Central; and challenging mountains as we get to the Côte d’Azur. And in 2021 – as the Movistar Team gets back to the ‘Course to the Sun’ after a year of voluntary absence, trying to avoid the effects of a pandemic still in its earliest phase in March 2020 – the scheme is reproduced with fidelity.
Saint-Cyr-l’École (Sunday 7th) will open the race just next to Paris, with a route full of ups and downs, before a more sprinter-suited, crosswind-prone, stage two towards Amilly (Monday 8th). This year’s ITT in and around Gien (Tuesday 9th), over 14km, will feature a difficult finish, over slopes at 6%, which should open some margins which could also increase at a torturous stage four (Wednesday 10th): more than 3,000 meters of elevation gain, seven categorized climbs and a mountain-top finish in Chiroubles (Cat-1), with 7.3km at 6% and some sections at nearly 11%.
After a final chance for the sprinters in Bollène (Thursday 11th) and a lumpy stage six towards Biot (Friday 12th), with another uphill finish preceded by some mountains halfway through the course, the riders will enter the decisive weekend. Saturday 13 will bring the race back to Valdeblore La Colmiane (Cat-1; 16.3km at 6.3%), after 166 km with three other categorized ascents far from the finish. Finally, on Sunday 14th, a modified showdown -due to the restrictions imposed by the mayor of Nice-, with 92.2km and a hilly final circuit around Levens, with three climbs to Duranus (Cat-2).