Place Name: Avenue De L'hautil
Address: 541 Avenue De L'hautil, 78955 Carrières-sous-Poissy, France
Details: March 8, 2026
The 84th "Race to the Sun" begins in Achères, a Northwestern suburb of Paris on the banks of the Seine. The course takes the riders West on a large clockwise loop through the Yvelines department, out to Bréval where they turn North, across the Seine in Bonnières-sur-Seine, and cuts back East. Most of the day is spent at around 200M above sea level but there are numerous times they dip down 100M and have to rise back up to the plateau, making this a punchy first day of racing. The first categorized climb comes with 63KM to go on the Côte de Gargenville, a 2.3KM climb at 4.7%. The finale will begin here because just 17KM later comes the Côte de Vaux-sur-Seine, a 1.3KM climb at 6.8%, shortly followed by the entrance to the finishing circuit around Carrieres-sous-Poissy. The riders enter the circuit with 43KM to go. On each lap is the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes, a 1.1KM climb at over 8% followed by a 4KM stretch up on the plateau before descending into Carrieres-sous-Poissy and the Seine valley. The second time up, the riders will be just 11KM from the finish making this a real toss-up on whether any of the sprinters can survive when the opportunistic puncheurs decide to go.
Sprinters and Puncheurs to watch this week: Cees Bol, Orluis Aular, Luke Lamperti, Phil Bauhais, Mathias Vacek, Milan Fretin, Bryan Coquard, Dorian Godon, Milan Menten, Biniam Girmay, Casper Van Uden, Rick Pluimers
GC riders to watch this week: Jonas Vingegaard, Nicolas Prodhomme, Juan Ayuso, Brandon McNulty, Lenny Martinez, Oscar Onley, Carlos Rodríguez, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Steff Cras, Andreas Leknessund, Harold Tejada, Alexandre Delettre
It took a while, but the sun burned through the heavy cloud and mist to make an unusually beautiful start to Paris-Nice. The agricultural areas of the Yvelines were already lush with green wheat in the fields, indicating an early Spring. The break got established early on and included Luke Durbridge and Patrick Gamper of Jayco AlUla, Max Walker of EF-Education EasyPost, Casper Pedersen of Soudal Quickstep, Sébastien Grignard of Lotto Intermarché, and Mathis Le Berre of Total Energies. With 68KM to go, the gap was just 1 minute 15 seconds on a peloton that was bubbling with tension near the front. Teams who had position wanted to keep it as the Côte de Gargenville, the first categorized climb on course, was approaching just a few kilometers down the road.
The Côte de Gargenville was little more than a false flat and was taken on very steadily by both the break and the peloton. The pace increased in the bunch coming into the Côte de Vaux-sur-Seine but it backed off once more when the climb started. NSN Cycling, Uno-X Mobility, Picnic-PostNL, Soudal Quickstep, and TotalEnergies had the road blocked while Le Berre was attacking from the break in a bid to take the mountains points. Pedersen deftly followed and snagged maximum points at the top. The group reformed and visibly increased their pace. They still had their 1 minute 15 second advantage with 41KM to go but it took more effort to hold that same lead.
The run-in to the first passage of the finish line was a block headwind. With 800M to go, there was a tight left turn which dramatically narrowed to just one lane. The final 500M widened to an appropriate width if the finish were to come to a bunch sprint. On the way out to the backside of the circuit, the gap grew to over 1 minute 40 seconds with no one team willing to apply the resources to ride on the front. Ineos, Lidl-Trek, and Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe came to the front to position for the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes but there was no action on the climb. Pedersen led the break over the top with 27.5KM but NSN Cycling took up the chase on the plateau from the top of the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes. Down the descent and on the valley road, the chase was active but the gap was still holding at 1 minute 20 seconds.
The break arrived at the finish line as the bell rang out for one lap to go. They had just over 1 minute on the peloton with the main GC teams now owning the front. Le Berre was the strongest from the break on the final ascent of the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes and took maximum points but the gap was just 30 seconds as attacks started to fly from behind. Ewen Costiou of Groupama-FDJ United was the main animator with Alex Baudin of EF-Education EasyPost following in the wheel. As strong as the move looked, they had just a few bike lengths at the top on a peloton that was largely still together.
Quentin Pacher of Groupama-FDJ United counter attacked on the plateau but Visma-Lease a Bike were unphased and brought the probing attack to heel. Remnants of the break were still hanging out front with Walker, Le Berre, Pedersen, Grignard, and Gamper all working as a team time trial to stay away. When the descent proper began with 8KM to go, they had 20 seconds with Visma-Lease a Bike controlling the front of the bunch.
The peloton timed the catch to perfection on the wide straight road into the headwind with 1.4KM to go. NSN Cycling, Soudal Quickstep, and Decathlon CMA CGM were all battling for the tight left corner at 800M. The French squad won control of the front but their lead out got broken up by EF-Education Easypost who picked up the pace out of the corner. It was a long way for Marijn van den Berg to go but he piloted Luke Lamperti all the way in to 200M to go when the American launched his sprint. Cees Bol of Decathlon CMA CGM tried to come around but Lamperti held his speed and the lead. Behind, Biniam Girmay of NSN Cycling was trying to squeeze between Lamperti and the barriers but Lamperti held his line tight to the hoardings. A strong run from Vito Braet of Lotto Intermarché came too late and it was Lamperti who took the win and the overall race lead in the process. The victory was also the first for EF-Education EasyPost since last year's Tour de France. Braet was second across the line with Orluis Aular of Movistar maneuvering through riders to come in for third.
Tags: Paris-Nice, 2026, Paris-Nice 2026, Stage 1, March, Achères, Carrieres-sous-Poissy, Luke Durbridge, Patrick Gamper, Max Walker, Casper Pedersen, Sébastien Grignard, Mathis Le Berre, Ewen Costiou, Alex Baudin, Quentin Pacher, Marijn van den Berg, Luke Lamperti, Vito Braet, Orluis Aular