Paris-Nice

Paris-Nice is a men's WorldTour cycling stage race held each March in France. It runs roughly a week, starting in the north and finishing on the Côte d'Azur. The race is known for its unpredictable weather, varied terrain, and role as an early-season form indicator.

Paris-Nice is a week-long stage race held each March, from the outskirts of Paris to the Côte d’Azur. First run in 1933 and known as the Race to the Sun, it is the first WorldTour stage race of the year in Europe, and its title has often changed hands on the last afternoon.

The 1933 start as the Six Jours de la Route

Albert Lejeune ran two newspapers, Le Petit Journal in Paris and Le Petit Niçois in Nice, and in 1933 he created a bike race to link them. It lasted six days, was named the Six Jours de la Route after the six-day track races of the winter, and followed the Rhône valley to avoid the Alps. The leader’s jersey was azure and gold, for the sea and the sun of the Riviera. Alfons Schepers won the first stage, 312 kilometers from Paris to Dijon and still the longest in the race’s history, and kept the lead to Nice.

The war stopped the race after 1939; it was held once in 1946 and came back for good in 1951, when the mayor of Nice, Jean Médecin, wanted to promote the coast in spring and Jean Leulliot became race director. It was called Paris-Côte d’Azur until 1954. Leulliot and then his daughter Josette ran it until 2000, and A.S.O., the company behind the Tour de France, has organized it since 2002, when the leader’s jersey became yellow and white.

Anquetil, Merckx and Poulidor on the Col d’Èze

Jacques Anquetil won five times between 1957 and 1966. In 1969 the last stage became a timed climb of the Col d’Èze, 9.5 kilometers from Nice to a summit above the bay of Villefranche. Eddy Merckx won it for the first of three titles in a row, and on the way up he overtook Anquetil, who was riding his last Paris-Nice.

In 1972 Raymond Poulidor started the time trial 16 seconds behind Merckx, took 22 seconds from him and won the race by six. He was 36, and his 20 minutes 4 seconds was a record for the climb. From 1969 to 1995 the race ended on the Col d’Èze every year except 1977, when the road was being resurfaced.

Sean Kelly’s seven wins in a row

Sean Kelly won every edition from 1982 to 1988, and nobody else has won more than five. In 1982 he took the lead from Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle only on the last day, by winning the Col d’Èze time trial.

He won that time trial in five of the seven years. In 1984 Stephen Roche was ten seconds ahead of him halfway up, and Kelly won the stage by one second. In 1986 he led from the first day to the last and finished every stage in the top four. Across the seven wins he took 13 stages and spent 31 days in the leader’s jersey.

Echelons and snow on the road south

The first stages cross the open plains south of Paris in early March, and crosswinds and snow often shape the race there. In 2012 Omega Pharma-Quick Step split the field in the wind on the road to Orléans, on the first road stage. Bradley Wiggins took the yellow jersey that day and kept it to the Col d’Èze, where the time trial was back after 17 years. He won it in 19 minutes 12 seconds and the race by eight seconds over Lieuwe Westra.

Richie Porte, the winner in 2013 and 2015, lost his chance in 2017 in splits on the plains of the Loiret. In 2016 the stage to Mont Brouilly was canceled because of snow.

The final stage in the hills above Nice

From 2016 to 2019 the last day was a road stage through the hills behind Nice, and the Côte de Peille, about 50 kilometers from the finish, was the place to attack. Alberto Contador went there in 2016, and Geraint Thomas saved the title by four seconds.

In 2017 Contador started the day 31 seconds behind Sergio Henao and attacked at the same spot. He took two bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint in Èze, on the Col d’Èze, the last climb of the day, and six more for second place on the stage behind David de la Cruz. Henao’s group finished 21 seconds later, and he kept the title by two seconds, the smallest margin in the race’s history.

A year later Marc Soler was sixth, 37 seconds behind Simon Yates, on the last morning. He attacked on the Côte de Peille with De la Cruz and Omar Fraile, finished third on the Promenade des Anglais and, with the time bonus for that place, won the race by four seconds.

Schachmann’s two wins, then Roglič and Pogačar

The 2020 race was run as the pandemic reached Europe: several teams stayed away, the last stage was canceled and the race ended at La Colmiane. Max Schachmann had led since the first day and won by 18 seconds from Tiesj Benoot. In 2021 the finish was moved from Nice to Levens. Primož Roglič had won three stages and led Schachmann by 52 seconds before the last one. He crashed twice and was dropped, and Schachmann won again.

Roglič won in 2022, when Wout van Aert escorted him through the final stage after Yates had attacked. Tadej Pogačar won three stages in 2023, the last after an attack 4 kilometers from the top of the Col d’Èze and a solo descent into Nice.

Jorgenson twice, then Vingegaard by more than four minutes

Matteo Jorgenson, an American who lives in Nice, began the last stage of 2024 four seconds behind Brandon McNulty. He followed the attacks of Remco Evenepoel on the Côte de Peille and took the yellow jersey for the first time that afternoon. He won again in 2025, after his teammate Jonas Vingegaard crashed while leading and left the race.

In 2026 Vingegaard took the lead at Uchon, on a fourth stage that split in crosswinds as soon as the flag dropped in Bourges. He finished 4 minutes 23 seconds ahead of Daniel Martínez, the largest winning margin since 1939, and became the first Danish winner. He also won the points and mountains classifications, which no overall winner had done since Kelly in 1986.

Paris-Nice occupies a unique spot on the calendar. It arrives early enough that winter fitness still matters, but late enough that spring ambitions are taking shape. The route typically moves south through changing weather and terrain, from flat northern roads to Provençal climbs and Mediterranean finishes. The race rewards versatility: climbers need to survive crosswinds and time trials, while stage hunters must read when the general classification fight will allow breaks to survive. It's a proving ground for riders building toward April and May, and a target in its own right for those who thrive in March.