Paris-Nice 2021 start list: Line-ups for the 79th Race to the Sun

Paris-Nice will returns for 2021 as the first major European stage race of the season, with a stellar line-up expected for the 79th edition of the Race to the Sun.

Last year's event was the final stage race to go ahead before the coronavirus pandemic caused a complete cessation of racing until August, however the eighth and final stage was scrapped due to the continuing escalation of the pandemic. German Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was confirmed the winner of the 2020 edition after seven stages, beating Tiesj Benoot (then Sunweb) to the overall victory. Both riders return for the 2021 race.

This year the race will be back with eight stages, including some enticing hilly stages, flat runs for the sprinters, the decisive mountain stages, and a crucial individual time trial. All the WorldTour teams are included of course, with Alpecin-Fenix qualifying automatically for a place as the highest-ranked ProTour team last year. B&B Hotels p/b KTM, Arkéa-Samsic, and Total Direct Energie fill the wildcard places.

There's already some serious GC talent confirmed on the Paris-Nice 2021 start list: Vuelta a España winner Primož Roglič will chase victory alongside Steven Kruijswijk for Jumbo-Visma, while Giro d'Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart will start for Ineos along with Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis. The Brit will come up against his rival from the Giro, Jai Hindley (Team DSM) for the first time since they finished first and second in Italy last October. Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) will no doubt be aiming to stay in the mix for the overall win, as will Astana's Aleksandr Vlasov. Frenchmen David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) will be outside bets at taking a surprise win in their home stage race.

There's also a raft of sprint talent on the start list, including Ireland's Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), French champion Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Italian champion Giacomo Nizzolo (Assos-Qhubeka), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange), and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) among a host of others. Classics riders like Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo), Oliver Naesen (Ag2r-Citroën), and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) will hope to disrupt the sprinters on the flatter stages as they use the race as preparation for their spring campaigns.

Other notable inclusions on the start list include Thomas De Gendt and Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal), Søren Kragh Andersen (Team DSM), Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic), and Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation) on a star-studded start list.

The 2021 Paris-Nice starts on Sunday March 7 in Saint-Cyr-L’École and finishes on Sunday March 14 in Nice.

Paris-Nice 2021 start list

Bora-Hansgrohe

SCHACHMANN Maximilian

ACKERMANN Pascal

BENEDETTI Cesare

GROßSCHARTNER Felix

MEEUS Jordi

POLITT Nils

SCHWARZMANN Michael

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

GILBERT Philippe

DE GENDT Thomas

DEGENKOLB John

GOOSSENS Kobe

OLDANI Stefano

VANHOUCKE Harm

VERMEERSCH Florian

UAE Team Emirates

COSTA Rui

KRISTOFF Alexander

DE LA CRUZ David

BYSTRØM Sven Erik

TRENTIN Matteo

OLIVEIRA Rui

MCNULTY Brandon

Qhubeka-Assos

NIZZOLO Giacomo

ARU Fabio

HENAO Sergio

ARMÉE Sander

CAMPENAERTS Victor

WALSCHEID Max

PELUCCHI Matteo

Bahrain-Victorious

TEUNS Dylan

BAUHAUS Phil

HAUSSLER Heinrich

ARASHIRO Yukiya

HALLER Marco

HAIG Jack

MÄDER Gino

Jumbo-Visma

ROGLIČ Primož

BENNETT George

HOFSTEDE Lennard

KRUIJSWIJK Steven

MARTIN Tony

OOMEN Sam

VAN EMDEN Jos

Astana-Premier Tech

BATTISTELLA Samuele

SOBRERO Matteo

FRAILE Omar

IZAGIRRE Ion

SÁNCHEZ Luis León

LUTSENKO Alexey

VLASOV Aleksandr

Ineos Grenadiers

PORTE Richie

VAN BAARLE Dylan

DE PLUS Laurens

GEOGHEGAN HART Tao

DENNIS Rohan

SWIFT Ben

AMADOR Andrey

AG2R Citroën Team

PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien

NAESEN Oliver

DEWULF Stan

GODON Dorian

JUNGELS Bob

TOUZÉ Damien

O'CONNOR Ben

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

MARTIN Guillaume

PEREZ Anthony

PÉRICHON Pierre-Luc

ALLEGAERT Piet

GESCHKE Simon

WALLAYS Jelle

LAPORTE Christophe

Deceuninck-Quick-Step

BENNETT Sam

DECLERCQ Tim

SÉNÉCHAL Florian

LAMPAERT Yves

MØRKØV Michael

CAVAGNA Rémi

CATTANEO Mattia

EF Education-Nippo

CORT Magnus

ARROYAVE Daniel

KEUKELEIRE Jens

POWLESS Neilson

RUTSCH Jonas

EL FARES Julien

BISSEGGER Stefan

Groupama-FDJ

GUARNIERI Jacopo

GAUDU David

SINKELDAM Ramon

DÉMARE Arnaud

ARMIRAIL Bruno

SCOTSON Miles

KONOVALOVAS Ignatas

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux

MEINTJES Louis

VAN POPPEL Danny

EIKING Odd Christian

VAN POPPEL Boy

VAN DER HOORN Taco

TAARAMÄE Rein

KOCH Jonas

Israel Start-Up Nation

BARBIER Rudy

VANMARCKE Sep

BRÄNDLE Matthias

BEVIN Patrick

HOFSTETTER Hugo

NEILANDS Krists

GREIPEL André

Movistar Team

JORGENSON Matteo

ROJAS José Joaquín

MÜHLBERGER Gregor

JACOBS Johan

ARCAS Jorge

MORA Sebastián

ERVITI Imanol

Team BikeExchange

DURBRIDGE Luke

EDMONDSON Alex

HAMILTON Lucas

KONYCHEV Alexander

GROVES Kaden

MATTHEWS Michael

JANSEN Amund Grøndahl

Team DSM

BOL Cees

BENOOT Tiesj

PEDERSEN Casper

HINDLEY Jai

SÜTTERLIN Jasha

EEKHOFF Nils

KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren

Trek-Segafredo

BERNARD Julien

ELISSONDE Kenny

KIRSCH Alex

MOSCA Jacopo

PEDERSEN Mads

STUYVEN Jasper

THEUNS Edward

B&B Hotels p/b KTM

HIVERT Jonathan

COQUARD Bryan

LECROQ Jérémy

PACHER Quentin

BARTHE Cyril

LEMOINE Cyril

GAUTIER Cyril

Arkéa-Samsic

BARGUIL Warren

BOUHANNI Nacer

BOUET Maxime

RUSSO Clément

MCLAY Daniel

DELAPLACE Anthony

SWIFT Connor

Alpecin-Fenix

PHILIPSEN Jasper

RIESEBEEK Oscar

VERVAEKE Louis

THWAITES Scott

LEYSEN Senne

DE BONDT Dries

SBARAGLI Kristian

Total Direct Energie

BOASSON HAGEN Edvald

LATOUR Pierre

VUILLERMOZ Alexis

DOUBEY Fabien

TURGIS Anthony

LAWLESS Chris

VAN GESTEL Dries