Paris-Nice 2023: route, favorites, how to watch

Right in the middle of the cycling spring, comes the first great battle. A race that year after year offers us an exciting show and that in this 2023 edition, to be held between March 5 and 12, has managed to bring together the two greatest cyclists of the moment that, far from the philosophy of the past, have started the season with a great success.

Duel under the sun

The traditional route takes the cyclists, as the name suggests, from the harsh climate of the late winter months that usually accompanies the start near the French capital to the beautiful scenery of the mountains that mark the Côte d'Azur in what is undoubtedly one of the stage races, beyond the Grand Tours, with the greatest reputation.

Both this Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, which is being held in parallel, are the alternative for the top riders in a few weeks in which the Classics get the main attention. Tours that used to be a minor challenge and were part of the preparation for a bigger challenge, such as La Vuelta, when it was raced in April, the Giro d'Italia or the Tour de France, are nowadays an objective in themselves that the cyclists face in their best condition.

Across France: Paris-Nice route 2023

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ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France and of this Paris-Nice, as we know, is not given to experiments, so this race maintains a classic design with a start with flat and nervous stages, often marked by the wind and the harsh climate of northern France; time trial stage that gives way to tricky stages with some trap or a steep finish, a mountain stage and a final stage in the environment of the Côte d'Azur always tense and prone to surprises.

It will not be very different in this 2023 edition of Paris-Nice, except for the time trial. A time trial of 32 kilometers that will be disputed in the third stage and that this time introduces as a novelty the experiment that the times at the finish line will be taken individually instead of setting the team time the passage of the third rider, which may lead to see some unusual tactics.

Before that, the cyclists will have ridden two flat stages but, as we noted earlier, with the unpredictability that these days in Paris-Nice always have, with years in which even snow has been the protagonist of the race.

On the fourth stage, after the celebration of the time trial, we should begin to see the favorites, with a day in the environment of the Massif Central and its broken terrain, which will give us a first uphill finish with the arrival at La Lodge des Gardes, a climb of just under 7 kilometers at 7% average where the protagonists should begin to show their cards.

A new transition day in the fifth stage, will leave us before the last three days in which the mountains will once again be the protagonist. In the sixth with a mid-mountain route full of small hills and traps in the form of impossible slopes that will force the riders to be constantly attentive because the race can be turned upside down at any point.

For its part, the sixth stage presents a mountainous profile with two first category climbs, the last of them, the Col de la Couillole, as the stage finish with its more than 15 kilometers of ascent at an average of 7.1%, which will surely be the place where the general classification will be definitively defined. In any case, ASO is making the mistake of setting a low mileage for this stage, which will mean that the possible differences that could occur on a route like this one will not be so generous. All to keep the excitement going until the last day.

A traditional final stage full of small climbs, including the usual Col d'Eze over the capital of the Côte d'Azur itself, which always provides a spectacular day, with attempts to close the gap in the general classification and the leader's team defending its advantage.

Scent of Tour: Paris-Nice 2023 favorites

After these last two weeks in which both the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar and the reigning Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard have started their respective seasons by winning wherever they have gone, both will meet for the first time in 2023 in this Paris-Nice. In view of what we have seen, this anticipates a must-see spectacle for all cycling lovers and, depending on the result, could be an important moral blow when it comes to marking territory.

Obviously, they are the two who start with all the halo of favorite thanks to the forcefulness with which Pogacar won in La Vuelta a Andalucía and Vingegaard did the same in O Gran Camiño, where he won all the stages of the race. Both riders have a squad that leaves no doubt about their intentions.

Vingegaard's Jumbo-Visma will feature such reliable riders as Steven Kruijswijk, Christophe Laporte and Rohan Dennis, while UAE-Team Emirates will count on Rafal Majka and Tim Wellens, who is making a brilliant start to the season.

Several steps below, Daniel Felipe Martínez of INEOS Grenadiers, who, without making too much noise, has already inaugurated his season with the victory in the Volta ao Algarve, will try to play their chances against these two cycling monsters. He will be supported by, among others, Pavel Sivakov and Omar Fraile, who also seems to have recovered his best level at the beginning of 2023.

Another contender will be Simon Yates, who last year was left on the ropes against Primoz Rogliz on the final day in Nice, a situation that the presence of an immeasurable Wout Van Aert, who this year has changed the French roads for the Italian roads of the Tirreno-Adriatico, managed to save.

Movistar presents a squad that will try to look for a partial victory with Gorka Izagirre and Iván García Cortina as the main pillars. For its part, Cofidis will feature the always reliable Rubén Fernandez and Ion Izagirre, who will be looking to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth left by O Gran Camiño, in which he had to abandon after a crash in the penultimate stage. Nor should we rule out for a stage victory a winner of Paris-Nice as Luis Leon Sanchez who, surely, will leave us samples of his quality.

How to watch Paris-Nice 2023

Being a race organized by ASO, the television offer to follow the development of this Paris-Nice is extended. In addition to the usual Eurospot broadcasting, both on its conventional channels and through its online platform and the associated GCN+, TVE will broadcast the race on its thematic channel Teledeporte, as well as on its website and RTVE Play application. In both cases, the broadcasting will start at around 3 p.m., with the end of the stages scheduled for around five in the afternoon.