Sam Bennett's first race of the season, Etoile de Bessèges (2.1), was cut short after his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team withdrew over safety concerns, but the Irishman will go again in France this week in search of an early season win.
He will line out at Tour de la Provence (2.1) on Friday, where he went so close to winning the final stage last year. And he will be joined by two of his young compatriots, Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost) and Dillon Corkery (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93).
This time around, Bennett will be searching for his and his team's first win of the year, though the terrain should produce plenty of fierce racing. Rafferty and Corkery will be looking to build on their first seasons in the pro peloton proper last year.
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All of the team selections are provisional for now but Rafferty's team mate, Marijn van den Berg, is the stand-out rider for the sprints. Aside from that, there is no Richard Carapaz down to race and the team line-up looks like one in which Rafferty could get his own chance.
If the race splits on the climbs, especially on stage 2, Rafferty has a great chance of securing a very strong general classification result.
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Corkery will likely play a team role in the opening two stages, though the final stage is one he will have an eye on and the 25-year-old will definitely be looking to move forward this season.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) won the race overall last year after claiming three of the four stages and he will be back this week to pose a big threat, though it is not field stacked with big names.
There is no prologue TT this year, with the race getting underway with a 169km road race from Marseille to Saint-Victoret, featuring 2,615m of climbing, on Friday. The second half of the stage is flatter, meaning there is time for a regrouping.
However, whether the fight for victory comes down to a sprint, even from a reduced peloton, will very much depend on how the stage is raced and the weather, especially the breeze.
The second stage, on Saturday, is 167km from Forcalquier to Manosque, with 2,430m of climbing. The cat 1 Col de l'Aire del Masco - 6.5km averaging 4.8 per cent - is crested just 28km from the finish and may prove the decisive climb of the three-day race.
The final stage, this Sunday, takes the riders 190.6km from Rognac and Arles and, as the route is pan flat, bar an early small climb, it looks like the best bet for sprinters like Bennett. However, the opening stage might also be one where the versatile sprinters can compete.
