With really strong Irish riders in the field for Paris-Nice which gets underway on Sunday there are real stage win chances. The best Irish riders will battle it out in the race to the sun, with Sam Bennett, Philip Deignan, Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin among them.
The race once owned by Sean Kelly, the Irish will again have lots of interest in Paris-Nice over the week to come with no fewer than four Irish riders involved.
Sam Bennett, Philip Deignan, Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin are all lining out for their teams in the race to the sun.
And while Deignan and Roche will be curtailed by team work, they are still both very capable and a stage win is well within their grasp.
Deignan is in the Team Sky line-up going for overall glory with new Colombian champion Sergio Henao. He will be looking to keep the title in the team; the yellow jersey having been won 12 months ago by Geraint Thomas.
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And Roche’s BMC Racing team will be putting all its efforts into Richie Porte’s effort to win the race.
They will be joined by Alessandro De Marchi, Amaël Moinard, Michael Schär, Dylan Teuns, Francisco Ventoso and Danilo Wyss.
Of the four Irish in the race it is fastman Bennett of Bora-hansgrohe and Martin of QuickStep who will be most fancied to take a victory.
Bennett has already been the podium several times this season, including his victory in the Ride Melbourne race in Australia back in January.
And while clearly one of the fastest men in the world, he will have his work cut out for him if he is to take a stage over the coming week.
Philip Deignan is part of the strong Team Sky line-up for Paris-Nice which starts on Sunday.
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However, with the opening two stages set to suit the sprinters, it is here that Bennett will find his best chances.
Sunday’s opener is a 148km leg starting and finishing in Bois-d'Arcy and with a slightly lumpy run-in it may suit Bennett more than some of the fast men in the field.
Stage 2 – 195km from Rochefort-en-Yvelines to Amilly – should also end in a bunch sprint.
And while there is one cat 3 and a cat 2 climb to tackle on the 190km stage 3 from Chablis to Chalon-sur-Saône, the cat 2 is crested with around an hour’s racing remaining.
Sprinters who can climb a little
It means the sprinters who can climb a little, such as Bennett, will likely still be in the thick of the action at the finish.
Stage 4 is a TT but Thursday’s stage 5 is 199.6km from Quincié-en-Beaujolais to Bourg-de-Péage. And with just a cat 3 and cat 2 climb to contend with, the latter with almost 50km remaining, a sprint could on the cards.
Next Friday’s stage 6 is very hilly; the 193.5km Aubagne to Fayence featuring now fewer than six categorised climbs, three of them cat 1 ascents.
The penultimate stage 7 next Saturday is a summit finish to the cat 1 Col de la Couillole after 177km starting in Nice.
And the final stage next Sunday is 115.5km starting and finishing in Nice, with three cat 2 climbs and two cat 1 ascents that should split up the racing.
The harder stages will suit Martin, who has been in great form and is capable of winning a stage.
And though the TT may hinder his general classification challenge, he is a favourite for the podium.
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