Paris - Nice - UWT Paris-Nice - L'Équipe preview Welcome to le course au soleil! This stage race in France often starts in dire conditions but the riders get a nice reward by tanning on the Côte d'Azur after a week's hard graft. The race stays mainly in the east of France, which allows for some varied racing with hills, time trials, and the traditional stages in Nice with a sprint on the Promenade des Anglais and the climb of the Col d'Èze. This year, the organization has not been particularly creative with the designs, sticking to last year's parcours where Bradley Wiggins took the victory. However, with Wiggins publicly stating he would like a change of season schedule this year, it seems unlikely that the sideburned globetrotter will return to this stage race. It seems likely that Tout Seul Cyclisme will take over that mantle, lining up with two of the best climbers in the field in Chris Froome and Cadel Evans. Froome is yet to have any racing practice this year, and that may mean that Evans gets a run, after a solid training run in Oman. The Castellón Citrosol team should not be counted out either, however - despite many important stage races to come in Spain, or perhaps to get some racing miles in the legs, they field some top-class climbers in Alejandro Valverde, Juan José Cobo and the young Colombian starlet Nairo Quintana. Flat riders Lars Ytting Bak, Tony Gallopin and Johnny Hoogerland will excel at controlling the pace of the peloton if the Spanish side see themselves in the yellow. Fosters Pro Cycling, despite a slow start to the season with only the one surprise stage win to Kocjan Down Under, give their local riders a chance to shine; climbers Thomas Voeckler and Thibaut Pinot head their efforts, and if some of them have early season form they could well challenge for good GC positions. The team is also full of solid puncheurs who will be looking for stage wins. Meanwhile, the Rabobank team are not worried about the early season's racing and keep most of their big guns in the armoury, but given their efforts in the Algarve where Lieuwe Westra and Maxime Monfort tortured the field with spirited attacks, and the undoubted talent of Robert Gesink, one shouldn't count the resuscitated team out. Other GC candidates include the well-rounded Cyclisma Australis squad with Chris Horner, Michael Rogers, and John Gadret all fighting for captaincy duties, and wily veterans Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Samuel Sánchez and Dave Zabriskie might also be in the mix. Tasmanian climbing hope Richie Porte was drafted controversially early, and if he is to nab a great GC result this might just be the chance, coming off an excellent ITT at the Australian Championships - and especially as morale among the Hoegaarden squad is at an all-time high as the team are hogging the early warm-up classics. With some support from Bauke Mollema, who will be making his debut but still should stay long up the climbs, the team seems to be in a better position than for many other tours later this season. Most top sprinters have been left out, possibly due to the mountainous parcours, which opens up the field for Hoegaarden's French finisher Romain Feillu, who did well in the overall Qatar GC on the back of a solid time trial team. Daryl Impey, one of few non-Frenchies in the Fosters squad, also knows how to win stages in France, but the biggest name recognition indubitably belongs to Alessandro Petacchi, the Ale-Jet with 48 Grand Tour stages to his name. There's also a lot of wraps on the 22-year-old Frenchie Nacer Bouhanni, who failed to make any real impact in Oman, but now faces considerably slower competition. As for the puncheurs and fighters who could steal stage wins, Johnny Hoogerland will be another man for the Citrosol attack on stage wins, Anthony Roux could nick some stages for Fosters should their climbers disappoint, and last season's breakthrough rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, signed to Harpsobank for this season, may also be a man to look out for in the stage standings. Favourites *** Cadel Evans (AUS, TSC), Alejandro Valverde (ESP, CC) ** Chris Froome (GBR, TSC), Maxime Monfort (BEL, RAB), Richie Porte (AUS, HFF), Michael Rogers (AUS, CA), Samuel Sánchez (ESP, MM), Thomas Voeckler (FRA, FOS) * Juan José Cobo (ESP, CC), John Gadret (USA, CA), Chris Horner (USA, CA), Andreas Klöden (GER, MM), Levi Leipheimer (USA, HAR), Fränk Schleck (LUX, HAR), Rein Taaramäe (EST, RAB), Lieuwe Westra (NED, RAB) Palmarès 2012: Bradley Wiggins (GBR, Sky) 2011: Tony Martin (GER, HTC-Highroad) 2010: Alberto Contador (ESP, Astana)- 2009: Luis León Sánchez (ESP, Caisse d'Epargne) 2008: Davide Rebellin (ITA, Gerolsteiner) Full list 2012 stage winners: Stage 1 ITT: Gustav Larsson (SWE, Vacansoleil) Stage 2: Tom Boonen (BEL, OPQS) Stage 3: Alejandro Valverde (ESP, Movistar) Stage 4: Gianni Meersman (BEL, Lotto) Stage 5: Lieuwe Westra (NED, Vacansoleil) Stage 6: Luis León Sánchez (ESP, Rabobank) Stage 7: Thomas De Gendt (BEL, Vacansoleil) Stage 8 ITT: Bradley Wiggins (GBR, Sky)
Van Avermaet - 11th Langeveld - 12th Breschel - 13th Paolini - 16th Stannard - 17th Terpstra - 18th Eisel - 19th Thomas - 20th Roelandts - 21st Bole - 23rd Turgot - 24th 1) HFF 2) Harpsobank 3) TSC
Paris - Nice - UWT March 4-11 Castellon Citrosol: Gallopin, Quintana, Bak, Cobo, Valverde, Kwiatkowski, Bouhanni, Hoogerland Cyclista Australis: Sorensen, Petacchi, Izagirre, Rogers, Horner, Gadret, Albasini, Breschel Fosters Pro Cycling: Pinot, El Fares, Simon, Roux, Impey, Paolini, Voeckler, Kocjan Hoogarden-Farm Frites: Terpstra, Vansummeren, Mollema, Gatto, Feillu, Navardauskas, Porte Melton Mowbray Pro Cycling: Langeveld, Sanchez, Eisel, Kloden, Spilak, Schumacher, Kolobnev, Bauer Rabobank: Taaramae, Voigt, Kessiakoff, Monfort, Moser, Morkov, Westra Team Harpsobank: Hayman, F. Schleck, Leipheimer, Siutsou, Zabriskie, Casar, Tiernan-Locke Tout Seul Cyclisme: Dekker, Froome, Machado, Boeckmans, Demare, Bookwalter, Evans, Dumoulin
5/6 in Belgium so far. Solid effort from Harps with only 4 at the start. Could be good for the big ones.
