2026 Paris-Nice Race Preview
The details of this year's 2026 Paris-Nice are falling into place. Find the latest route profiles and maps below, followed by our strategic preview of the race.
The 84th edition of 'the race to the sun' serves up a familiar menu of varied tests offering something for every type of rider in the bunch. There are two or possibly three stages for the sprinters, a number of opportunities for breakaway specialists, the usual tough weekend in the hills behind Nice that will sort out the top 10 positions on GC, while an intriguing team time trial on day three may well impact the overall result as well.
Two-time defending champion Matteo Jorgenson isn't on the start line, but his Visma-Lease A Bike will go into the race with the outstanding favorite in Jonas Vingegaard, who was third here in 2023 and failed to finish last year after crashing on the fifth stage. It's worth noting that in both of those races, his team won the TTT that took place on the third day. The Dane has a super strong line-up behind him, including Victor Campenaerts, Axel Zingle and Edoardo Affini.
Following the late withdrawal of Joǎo Almeida due to illness, Vingegaard's most obvious challenger for the title is the in-form Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek). Winner of the recent Tour of the Algarve, the young Spaniard has never raced Paris-Nice before, but has lots of experience on his side in the shape of Toms Skujiņš, Søren Kragh Anderson and Lennard Kämna.
Following the loss of Almeida, UAE Team Emirates have promoted Brandon McNulty to a leadership position, with Pavel Sivakov and Marc Soler as the American's two key lieutenants. The other squad that's blessed with a number of GC options is Ineos Grenadiers. They go into the race with recent signings Oscar Onley and KĂ©vin Vauquelin leading an attack that also features Carlos RodrĂguez. Behind them is a very powerful group of riders, notably MichaĹ‚ Kwiatkowski and Josh Tarling. Expect them to go very well in Tuesday's TTT.
Other riders likely to feature in the GC include Movistar's Iván Romeo, Groupama-FDJ's David Gaudu, who finished second in that 2023 edition of the race, and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's Dani MartĂnez, who's always a threat in week-long events.
The sprint battle brings together some big names too, including Pascal Ackermann (Jayco-Alula), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Alberto Dainese (Soudal Quick-Step) and, most significantly, Biniam Girmay, who's already bagged a couple of wins for his new NSN Cycling team.
The route, though, favours punchy riders more than pure fastmen, and that's reflected in some of the other names on the start list. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-Easy Post), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain), and Astana duo Sergio Higuita and Harold Tejada are just a handful of the puncheurs who will have marked out two, three or even four stages where they could play their card.
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