Stopped last year a few hours before the finish on the Promenade des Anglais due to the rampant Covid-19 pandemic, the 79th edition of Paris-Nice will start on Sunday March 7 from Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole in the Yvelines and will arrive in Nice a week later, on March 14.
ASO (Amaury Sport Organization) is already crossing its fingers so that nothing once again disrupts the course of the sun which really launches the 2021 season. “We will still have to adapt to the context.
But Paris-Nice, these are the 3 strokes of the season, a Hitchcock-style race that is played out in seconds ”, warns Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France and organizer of Paris-Nice, whose previous edition was was won by the German Maximilian Schachmann (Bora).
🎥 11 Great Departures in @Les_Yvelines and so many good memories for #ParisNice!
🎥 11 Grands D Départts from @Les_Yvelines and even more great memories for #ParisNice!
pic.twitter.com/EWw3RPhHae
- Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) January 6, 2021
After the start in Saint-Cyr, the next stage will lead the runners from Oinville-sur-Montcient (79) to Amilly in the Loiret.
Oinville is a small village of less than 1000 inhabitants.
On Tuesday, it is an individual time trial in Loiret between Gien and Gien of 14.5 km which will be on the menu before a transfer to Chalon-sur-Saône (Saône-et-Loire) for a Wednesday stage. leading to Chiroubles in the Rhône with the first difficulties of the course.
The 79th edition of Paris-Nice will start from Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole in Yvelines and arrive in Nice. NiceASO2020-GeoAtlas.com
The peloton will descend the entire Rhône valley the next day between Vienne and Bollène in the Vaucluse, a route well known to holidaymakers in August on the motorway.
If all goes well so far, the riders will spend the following weekend with the Mediterranean to their right.
Brignoles in the Var will wait for them on Saturday to drive them to Biot (Alpes-Maritimes) in the Var hinterland.
It will then be time to take up residence in Nice, from where the Tour de France started last August for the last two stages: Nice-Valdeblore with the Col de la Colmiane 16 km long with an average slope of 6 % and Nice-Nice to finish.
Hoping that by then the region for the moment very hard hit by the epidemic is spared.