01 March 2016
IAM Cycling
THE INFO
Rik Verbrugghe, sports manager for IAM Cycling, sets the tone ahead of the start of the second race on the 2016 World Tour calendar: I saw some great things in Belgium this past weekend. We have a team that can hold its own. It is encouraging before Paris-Nice. We must continue to build our momentum there. We want to influence the race. The selection will not come without pain. Choosing between our riders who are in shape and those who are perhaps lacking a touch but in whom we have confidence was agonizing. I especially want the best riders at the start.
THE ANALYSIS
We have a sufficiently homogeneous and well balanced team to aim for a stage victory,” commented Lionel Marie, who along with Eddy Seigneur will be the teams directeur sportif for the event. There is no lack of strong competition, but with our rouleurs, sprinters and puncheurs, having a shot at a win is not just a figment of our imagination.
THE POET
Christian Prudhomme. The director for cycling at Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) speaks of the A taste of the Tour and more in his editorial ahead of the race. This year the treasures and innovations that will be on display in this diagonal route across France will invite speculation about who will be the favorites come time for the Tour. The program for the 74th edition of the Race to the Sun looks to be a set of samples drawn from the classics, stage races, and even circuit races visited throughout the year. To use wine terminology, since the riders will be inhaling the perfume of the vines throughout the race, 2016 is looks set to be a vintage that will rank well with an explosion of flavors, beginning with the official depart in the bucolic setting of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
THE ONE OF A KIND
The Madone dUtelle. This climb in the mountainous region behind Nice is 15.3km at an average gradient of 5.7% with pitches that ramp up to 9%. It will act as the finish line for a day reserved for the climbers. Indeed, it will come at the end of a stage that will see more than six cols with a 1st or 2nd category rating on the menu.
THE NUMBER
6100 – In meters, this is the length of the prologue, with six corners, that has been traced over the streets of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. It is a city of 35,000 inhabitants located about twenty kilometers northwest of Paris, bisected by the Seine. Matthias Brändle and Jérôme Coppel will be present for IAM Cycling and ready to play for a top spot.
LINE-UP Paris – Nice:
