2025 Route : an open air opera
December 17 th 2024 - 11:30
The route of the 83rd edition of Paris–Nice was unveiled in Versailles this morning. Perray-en-Yvelines will host the sixteenth race start in the Yvelines department on 9 March.
The show will hit a crescendo as it approaches the end of a diagonal line drawn on the map of France. A series of climactic moments will sort out the pretenders from the contenders, including an individual time trial raced as a team in Nièvre and a summit finish at La Loge Des Gardes halfway through the week.
The battle for the yellow and white leader's jersey will come to a head over the second weekend, with a mountain stage to the Auron ski resort followed by the final loop around Nice on 16 March. Sprinters and puncheurs will also be part of the orchestra in this suite of eight concerti playing out across 1,206 kilometres.
The Race to the Sun is perhaps best seen as The Four Seasons, a transposition of Vivaldi's concerti to the world of cycling: a series of movements that sometimes take place in winter conditions; a dress rehearsal of sorts for the spring classics; riders priming their minds and legs for the big summer events; and cyclists beginning to reap what they sowed last autumn. A medley of terrains and a score rising in crescendo up until the curtain drop in Nice guarantee that only the most well-rounded voices of the moment stand on the podium. Teams will have to give their leaders their full-throated support from the inaugural stage in Yvelines, which could end either in a bunch sprint or with a daring adventurer using the Bosse des Mesnuls as a launch pad to storm to victory from 9 kilometres out. The next day will remind veterans of the stage to Bellegarde six years ago, when the wind battered the Beauce plains and swept multiple favourites out of contention, but Egan Bernal emerged unscathed and took his first big step towards winning the race outright. After that, power riders will crank out the watts in a time trial in true Paris–Nice style, stretching for 25.4 kilometres between the Nevers Circuit de Magny-Cours and downtown Nevers, which will reveal who has a legitimate shot at the title. The balance of power established in Nièvre will start to change in the summit finish at La Loge des Gardes (stage 4), coming at the tail end of a circuit through the Bourbonnais mountains with an altitude gain of 3,100 metres, where the mountain goats will lock horns for the first time.
The fifth day of racing will take the field to Ardèche on a course tailored to riders who can go from from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye: the last 50 kilometres are puncheur paradise, with climbs such as the Mur de Notre-Dame-de-Sciez, peaking at an eye-watering 18%. Stage 6 to Berre-l'Étang has "sprint finish" written all over it, but it remains to be seen how many fast men will actually be left in the peloton after the often windy descent of the Rhône Valley. One thing is for sure: on Saturday, stage 7 will be decided among a handful of climbers (at best) following the hostilities on the Col de la Colmiane and the increasingly steep ascent to the Auron ski resort. The set-up for the final act will be complete, with the conductor of the orchestra, clad in yellow and white, determined to defend his baton from those who would change the tune. The 119.9 km loop around Nice will bring back the Col de la Porte for the first time since 2010, followed by the Côte de Peille, Col d'Èze and Col des Quatre Chemins. The fat lady will sing on the Baie des Anges!