Join a 5-day, 4-night trip combining early season riding in the sunshine with watching the world’s top professionals…details here >>
The first of the WorldTour races in Europe is the 7-day Paris-Nice “Race to the Sun”, and it takes place in March.
On the penultimate day (Saturday 14 March), we ride to watch the stage explode on the final major climb of the day (the Col de Vence) or at the finish on the Promenade des Anglais.
The last stage (Sunday 15 March) is usually a time trial up the Col d’Eze – we ride into Nice to wander amongst the team buses and watch the riders warm up on the turbo trainers, then ride to one of the access points on the parcours to watch them race past.
In 2012 we sat on the low wall by the side of the road in the sunshine, tucking into an impromptu picnic as the riders rode past in the final TT stage with the Mediterranean as the backdrop, cheering Wiggins to victory. In 2013 one of my guests and I had the privilege of riding in one of the Team Sky cars behind Konstantin Sitsou, and then heading back to the Team Sky bus to watch Richie Porte warming up before his victory in the stage and the overall.
Paris-Nice is one of the key early season tests of form, and most of the world’s top professionals take part. Although a major WorldTour race, the crowds are nothing like the Tour de France, giving us unprecedented access and unrivalled views of the pros and the action.
“The highlight of the trip was undoubtedly catching the end of Paris-Nice. Cheering Wiggins on as he claimed victory in the TT was special and something I won’t forget for a while!”
Andy B, 2012
“We stayed with Justin while the Paris-Nice race was taking place, which was great as we could ride the Col d’Eze time trial stage, then watch the pros put us to shame, and Justin’s contacts at Team Sky added extra interest.”
Matthew G, 2013