Stage 0 Preview and Results

Stage 0: Montfort l'Amaury
Date: Sunday, March 7
Distance: 8 km

Prologue start time: Sunday 13:40 CET (12:40:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Montfort l'Amaury, France
Earliest live video: 15:30 CET (2:30:00 PM GMT+0000); Live video, audio and text options
Approximate finish: 16:45 CET (3:45:00 PM GMT+0000); Weather for Montfort l'Amaury, France

Course Preview

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Stage 1: Montfort-l’Amaury - Montfort-L’Amaury.
Terrain: Mostly Flat.
GC Importance: Not so much. This prologue is a nice gauge of form, but should not do much to decide the final outcome.

The Race to the Sun begins with a prologue in Montfort-l’Amaury. No, Paris-Nice does not start in Paris, but instead in Montfort-l’Amaury, which lies 20 kilometers southwest of the French capital. Not far from Versailles, the city dates from the 9th century, and was the original stronghold of the Comtes de Montfort. Farms and forest lands surround the city, and the terrain is rolling, uninterrupted by any significant hills.

The prologue follows a mostly flat 8 kilometer course. The stage starts with a bit of a climb, and after the opening kilometer, the riders face the Côte de Boursouffle. They will have nothing to fear, here, as the climb rises only 59 meters in .6 kilometers with an average gradient of 6%. The Côte de Boursouffle carries a category 3 rating and offers the chance for an ambitious rider to pull on the Mountains Jersey at the end of the day. Following the climb, the course rolls along for just over a kilometer then descends gently. Another gradual climb follows. The non-categorized Le Chêne Rogneux tops out at 180 meters, then it’s just over 2 kilometers of flat racing to the finish. No corners mar the final 2 kilometers and it’s a straight shot to the finish.

It will be a fast opening day at Paris-Nice, and the stage should show us who came to Paris-Nice with big ambitions. Last year, Alberto Contador opened his account with a win in the prologue. The two-time Tour winner beat crono specialist Bradley Wiggins by 7 seconds to take the first leader’s jersey of the race. Eventual overall winner Luis Leon Sánchez finished third. In these early season races, the specialists do not always win as riders who are chasing a first win show up with screaming good form.

Riders to watch in this prologue include last year’s stage winner Alberto Contador, who returns for this edition of Paris-Nice. Alejandro Valverde will lead Caisse d’Epargne in place of last year’s overall winner Luis Leon Sánchez, and Valverde who won the 2009 Vuelta a España is no slouch at short efforts against the watch like this one. Tony Martin, who finished fourth in the 2009 prologue at the Race to the Sun is meanwhile recovering from tendonitis in his knee, so may fall short of last year’s fab performance. Martin’s team-mate at HTC-Columbia Marco Pinotti might be the better pick for this prologue. Christian Vandevelde will lead Garmin-Slipstream, and while his season objectives come much later this year, he can roll a nice time trial on his day. Likewise for Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas-Doimo who is aiming for a high finish at the Tour de France in July. Kreuziger is showing some nice early season form as he recently won the overall at the Giro di Sardegna in Italy. Last, but certainly not least, Levi Leipheimer has a knack for the crono and will ride this Paris-Nice for the new American team RadioShack. Count Leipheimer among the favorites for a good ride in Montfort-l’Amaury.