The 83rd edition of Paris-Nice kicks off today, and as always, the Race of the Sun offers numerous compelling storylines. Let's explore the main themes, starting with today's stage.

YANNICK TALABARDON: "THE TRULY INTERESTING PART IS THE LAST 25 KM"

Famous for its numerous twists and surprises, Paris-Nice begins its 2025 edition with a stage around Le Perray-en-Yvelines (156.1 km), open to various scenarios on the roads of the Yvelines department, which has hosted the race start for the 16th consecutive year. "We have a loop through the Versailles plains and another through Chevreuses before returning to the first ring," explains Yannick Talabardon, Paris-Nice director. "The truly interesting part is the last 25 kilometers. There's the Côte de Villiers-Saint-Frédéric, whose last 400 meters are a wall, on a narrow road. And then, the road to the Les Mesnuls sprint, 9 kilometers from the finish, is exposed to wind. Actually, there are several areas where you can make the race really tough with just a bit of wind. And if there's strong wind, then there will be chaos." The Les Mesnuls sprint is also challenging, with 300 meters of cobblestones before a 1 km climb to the finish line. "In the last two years, we've seen riders like Pogacar, Vingegaard, Jorgenson, and Evenepoel targeting these time bonuses," Talabardon recalls. "And in any case, the finale will encourage teams without a sprinter to get moving." Will this be enough to challenge riders like Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who dream of the first leader's jersey of Paris-Nice 2025?

VINGEGAARD: "I'M BACK TO SEE IF WE CAN WIN"

A few weeks after his return to competition, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma|Lease a Bike) takes an important step in his path to reclaiming the highest peaks. "Obviously, I need to be better than last year to try to win the Tour de France," the Dane said on the eve of his Paris-Nice return. Third in 2023, Vingegaard hopes to improve on that result following his victory in Algarve: "Back then I came to try to win, so I was a bit disappointed. You can't win every time... Now I'm back to see if we can win it as a team." With a strong team by his side, the 2-time Tour de France winner is ready to share leadership with Matteo Jorgenson, the defending champion in Nice. "I have an excellent relationship with Matteo, and the fact is that I'm also happy if he wins the race," says the Dane. "It's not that I'm so selfish, I just want to win and don't care about anyone else. I'm also happy if a teammate wins, happy to sacrifice myself when he's able to win or when he's the strongest and has the greatest opportunity to win. And of course, it works the other way around for him with me."

JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE: "HUNTING FOR STAGE WINS"

Paris-Nice holds a special place in Julian Alaphilippe's career. After his first excellent results in the Ardennes and particularly at Flèche Wallonne (2nd in 2015 and 2016), the Race of the Sun gave him his first major victory in 2017, when he dominated the individual time trial on Mont Brouilly. Five years after his last participation, the French star is about to race on French soil for the first time since joining Tudor: "I'm very happy because it's been a while since I was here, and Paris-Nice is among my fondest memories," Alaphilippe said. "There are some very beautiful stages that I really like, which could suit me. And it's also important to be here ahead of the classics." Eager to show his strength in his new colors, Alaphilippe arrives with good sensations and great ambitions: "I've recovered well after Algarve and worked well for Paris-Nice. Everything is new with Tudor, but I continue to approach things the same way, with objectives throughout the week: Alberto Dainese will handle the sprints, Michael Storer can do well in the general classification, and I don't deny wanting to achieve a good result. I still have the same ambition to perform, the same passion. I race for victories and hope they come soon."

ALMEIDA: "I FEEL GOOD FOR THIS"

Multi-victorious this season, UAE Team Emirates-XRG has already secured 15 victories in 2025, with seven different riders raising their arms. João Almeida has not yet joined this list of winners, although he has shown strong legs in his first season events (2nd in Volta Valenciana and Volta ao Algarve). "It's been a good start to the season for me and the team," says the Portuguese before his 3rd Paris-Nice participation (8th in 2022). "We've won many races and fundamentally fought for all of them. Here at Paris-Nice, we can't wait to continue like this." With notable support from Brandon McNulty (3rd last year) and Pavel Sivakov (9th in 2023), Almeida wants to "be up there with the best and fight for the victory. I feel good for this".

GUILLAUME MARTIN-GUYONNET: "NOT JUST WATTS PER KILO"

The only French rider to have made the final podium of Paris-Nice in the last ten years was David Gaudu, 2nd in 2023 between Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. In his absence, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet leads Groupama-FDJ in his return to racing with his new team. With Cofidis, he achieved his best result in 2021 (6th). And he's determined to return to the front line: "It's the centerpiece of my first part of the season. In every WorldTour race, top-10 is the minimum objective, but I don't set limits. I've already been 6th and would like to do better." His first races with Groupama-FDJ also fill him with confidence, especially in view of some tricky days: "It's not just about watts per kilo, you need to be able to position yourself well and be a complete athlete. I feel well surrounded, it gives me confidence. Power is not lacking when it comes to supporting me in the wind on flat terrain." The strength of his teammates will also serve him in Tuesday's team time trial: "Usually I wonder how I'll limit the damage, but this time it will be very different. With Stefan Küng and Rémi Cavagna, we can approach things with ambition".

START LIST

Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1. JORGENSON Matteo
2. AFFINI Edoardo
3. CAMPENAERTS Victor
4. HAGENES Per Strand
5. LEMMEN Bart
6. VINGEGAARD Jonas
7. ZINGLE Axel

Soudal Quick-Step
11. SCHACHMANN Maximilian
12. BASTIAENS Ayco
13. LAMPAERT Yves
14. MERLIER Tim
15. VAN GESTEL Dries
16. VAN LERBERGHE Bert
17. VAN WILDER Ilan

UAE Team Emirates - XRG
21. MCNULTY Brandon
22. ALMEIDA João
23. OLIVEIRA Ivo
24. MOLANO Juan Sebastián
25. NARVÁEZ Jhonatan
26. POLITT Nils
27. SIVAKOV Pavel

Lidl - Trek
31. SKJELMOSE Mattias
32. BERNARD Julien
33. GIBBONS Ryan
34. HOOLE Daan
35. KIRSCH Alex
36. PEDERSEN Mads
37. VERGAERDE Otto

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
41. VLASOV Aleksandr
42. LIPOWITZ Florian
43. MULLEN Ryan
44. SOBRERO Matteo
45. VAN DIJKE Mick
46. VAN POPPEL Danny
47. ZWIEHOFF Ben

Team Jayco AlUla
51. O'CONNOR Ben
52. DURBRIDGE Luke
53. HEPBURN Michael
54. MATTHEWS Michael
55. O'BRIEN Kelland
56. SCHMID Mauro
57. WALSCHEID Max

INEOS Grenadiers
61. ARENSMAN Thymen
62. FOSS Tobias
63. JUNGELS Bob
64. SHEFFIELD Magnus
65. SWIFT Ben
66. TARLING Joshua
67. WATSON Samuel

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
71. GALL Felix
72. ARMIRAIL Bruno
73. BISSEGGER Stefan
74. DE PESTEL Sander
75. NAESEN Oliver
76. PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien
77. SCOTSON Callum

Bahrain - Victorious
81. BUITRAGO Santiago
82. GOVEKAR Matevž
83. GRADEK Kamil
84. HAIG Jack
85. MARTINEZ Lenny
86. WRIGHT Fred
87. ZAMBANINI Edoardo

Team Picnic PostNL
91. BARGUIL Warren
92. ANDRESEN Tobias Lund
93. DEGENKOLB John
94. FLYNN Sean
95. JAKOBSEN Fabio
96. NABERMAN Tim
97. VAN DEN BERG Julius

Movistar Team
101. ROMEO Iván
102. BARTA Will
103. CASTRILLO Pablo
104. CEPEDA Jefferson Alveiro
105. GARCÍA CORTINA Iván
106. MILESI Lorenzo
107. MORO Manlio

Tudor Pro Cycling Team
111. ALAPHILIPPE Julian
112. DAINESE Alberto
113. FROIDEVAUX Robin
114. HALLER Marco
115. LIENHARD Fabian
116. STORER Michael
117. TRENTIN Matteo

Groupama - FDJ
121. MARTIN Guillaume
122. CAVAGNA Rémi
123. GENIETS Kevin
124. GRUEL Thibaud
125. JACOBS Johan
126. KÜNG Stefan
127. PALENI Enzo

XDS Astana Team
131. TEJADA Harold
132. BOL Cees
133. CHAMPOUSSIN Clément
134. CHARMIG Anthon
135. FEDOROV Yevgeniy
136. TEUNISSEN Mike
137. VINOKUROV Nicolas

Arkéa - B&B Hotels
141. DÉMARE Arnaud
142. COSTIOU Ewen
143. GARCÍA PIERNA Raúl
144. GUERNALEC Thibault
145. SCOTSON Miles
146. SÉNÉCHAL Florian
147. THIERRY Pierre

EF Education - EasyPost
151. POWLESS Neilson
152. ALBANESE Vincenzo
153. ASGREEN Kasper
154. DOULL Owain
155. STEINHAUSER Georg
156. SWEENY Harry
157. WALKER Max

Uno-X Mobility
161. KRISTOFF Alexander
162. ABRAHAMSEN Jonas
163. JANSEN Amund Grøndahl
164. KULSET Johannes
165. LEKNESSUND Andreas
166. SKAARSETH Anders
167. TILLER Rasmus

Cofidis
171. ANIOŁKOWSKI Stanisław
172. DE GENDT Aimé
173. IZQUIERDO Clément
174. MAISONOBE Sam
175. MONIQUET Sylvain
176. PEREZ Anthony
177. SAMITIER Sergio

Intermarché - Wanty
181. ZIMMERMANN Georg
182. GOOSSENS Kobe
183. PAGE Hugo
184. PETIT Adrien
185. SMITH Dion
186. VAN DER HOORN Taco
187. VAN SINTMAARTENSDIJK Roel

Team TotalEnergies
191. TURGIS Anthony
192. CRAS Steff
193. DELETTRE Alexandre
194. GACHIGNARD Thomas
195. JEANNIÈRE Emilien
196. JEGAT Jordan
197. LEROUX Samuel

Alpecin - Deceuninck
201. DEL GROSSO Tibor
202. BAYER Tobias
203. DEBRUYNE Ramses
204. KIELICH Timo
205. PLANCKAERT Edward
206. RIESEBEEK Oscar
207. VERGALLITO Luca