The 2020 Paris-Nice is going to be a bit different to previous years. Due to the ongoing situation with the novel Coronavirus, some of the World Tour’s top teams have dropped out of all races in the month of March, leaving just 17 teams on the start line for the race to the sun.

But, with each team now allowed eight riders each, the teams that are attending are not holding back. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) is finally going to start his European season, which was meant to start this Saturday at Strade Bianche, but the Tuscan Classic has since been cancelled.

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Very notable GC riders that are all down to race are Grand Tour winners, Nairo Quintana (Team Arkéa-Samsic) and Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), along with Thibault Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step).

The race isn’t short of sprinting talent either with Bora-Hansgrohe not just bringing Sagan, but also Pascal Ackermann, with other sprinting stars such as Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and Cees Bol (Team Sunweb), all attending.

All these sprinters have had a good start to the season and we should see a good battle in the early stages.

Mitchelton-Scott, Team Ineos, CCC Team, Jumbo-Visma, Astana, UAE Team Emirates and Movistar Team have all pulled out of the race after uncertainty with the COVID-19 virus.

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This means that riders like the Yates brothers (Mitchelton-Scott), defending Paris-Nice champion Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) and more will not be racing until the Volta a Catalunya on March 22 at the earliest.

>>> Peter Sagan switches to Paris-Nice as Jumbo-Visma withdraw from race

But teams are racing the race. And for those who are, this year’s route is a puncher’s dream. Stages one and three aren’t certain sprint stages due to a late climb on stage one and an uphill finish on stage three.

Stage two is the sprinters best chance of throwing their arms in the air as we go time trialing on stage four then go into more undulation terrain before hitting the mountains and a summit finish up the Valdeblore La Colmiane, which will feature in this year’s Tour de France. Then the classic final stage into Nice to close the race.

Some riders to maybe watch out for are Philippe Gilbert (Lotto-Soudal) who’s main target for the season, Milan-Sanremo, has been cancelled, so will be riding Paris-Nice instead, Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Start-Up Nation) who will be on a high after taking Le Samyn on Tuesday, Hofstetter’s teammate Rudy Barbier who has had a superb sprinting start to the season and Sergio Higuita after his impressive win at the Tour Colombia 2.1.

>>> Paris-Nice: Latest news, reports and race info

Paris-Nice 2020 start list

Trek-Segafredo (USA)

1 PORTE Richie (Aus)

2 PEDERSEN Mads (Den)

3 ELISONDE Kenny (Fra)

4 KIRSCH Alex (Lux)

5 MULLEN Ryan (Irl)

6 NIBALI Vincenzo (Ita)

7 STUYVEN Jasper (Bel)

8 THEUNS Edward (Bel)

Team Arkéa-Samsic (Fra)

11 QUINTANA Nairo (Col)

12 ANACONA Winner (Col)

13 BARGUIL Warren (Fra)

14 BOUHANNI Nacer (Fra)

15 MCLAY Dan (GBr)

16 QUINTANA Dayer (Col)

17 ROSA Diego (Ita)

18 SWIFT Connor (GBr)

Groupama-FDJ (Fra)

21 PINOT Thibault (Fra)

22 DUCHESNE Antoine (Can)

23 KÜNG Stefan (Sui)

24 LADAGNOUS Matthieu (Fra)

25 LE GAC Olivier (Fra)

26 LUDVIGSSON Tobias (Swe)

27 MOLARD Rudy (Fra)

28 SARREAU Marc (Fra)

Bora-Hansgrohe (Ger)

31 SAGAN Peter (Svk)

32 ACKERMANN Pascal (Ger)

33 DRUCKER Jempy (Lux)

34 GROßSCHARTNER Felix (Aut)

35 KONRAD Patrick (Aut)

36 SAGAN Juraj (Svk)

37 SCHACHMANN Max (Ger)

38 POLJANSKI Pawel (Pol)

Deceuninck – Quick-Step (Bel)

41 ALAPHILIPPE Julian (Fra)

42 ASGREEN Kasper (Den)

43 BENNETT Sam (Irl)

44 DECLERCQ Tim (Bel)

45 JUNGELS Bob (Lux)

46 LAMPAERT Yves (Bel)

47 MØRKØV Michael (Den)

48 ŠTYBAR Zdeněk (Cze)

AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)

51 BARDET Romain (Fra)

52 CHEREL Mickael (Fra)

53 COSNESFROY Benoit (Fra)

54 GOUGEARD Alexis (Fra)

55 LATOUR Pierre (Fra)

56 NAESEN Oliver (Bel)

57 PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien (Fra)

58 PETERS Nans (Fra)

Lotto-Soudal (Bel)

61 GILBERT Philippe (Bel)

62 ARMÉE Sander (Bel)

63 DE BUYST Jasper (Bel)

64 DE GENDT Thomas (Bel)

65 DEGENKOLB John (Ger)

66 EWAN Caleb (Aus)

67 FRISON Frederick (Bel)

68 KLUGE Roger (Ger)

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Fra)

71 VIVIANI Elia (Ita)

72 ALLEGAERT Piet (Bel)

73 EDET Nicolas (Fra)

74 LEMOINE Cyril (Fra)

75 MARTIN Guillaume (Fra)

76 PEREZ Anthony (Fra)

77 TOUZE Damien (Fra)

78 VERMOTE Julien (Bel)

Bahrain-McLaren (Bhr)

81 TEUNS Dylan (Bel)

82 BILBAO Pello (Esp)

83 CARUSO Damiano (Ita)

84 CORTINA GARCIA Ivan (Esp)

85 HAUSSLER Heinrich (Aus)

86 NOVAK Domen (Slo)

87 PERNSTEINER Hermann (Aut)

88 TRATNIK Jan (Slo)

Team Sunweb (Ger)

91 MATTHEWS Michael (Aus)

92 ARNDT Nikias (Ger)

93 BENOOT Tiesj (Bel)

94 BOL Cees (Ned)

95 DENZ Nico (Ger)

96 EEKHOFF Nils (Ned)

97 HAMILTON Chris (Aus)

98 KRAGH ANDERSEN Soren (Den)

EF Pro Cycling (USA)

101 HIGUITA Sergio (Col)

102 BETTIOL Alberto (Ita)

103 CRADDOCK Lawson (USA)

104 KANGERT Tanel (Est)

105 SCULLY Tom (Nzl)

106 VAN GARDEREN Tejay (USA)

107 VANMARKE Sep (Bel)

108 WOODS Michael (Can)

Team Total Direct Energie (Fra)

111 CALMEJANE Lilian (Fra)

112 BONIFAZIO Niccolo (Ita)

113 HIVERT Jonathan (Fra)

114 PETIT Adrien (Fra)

115 SIMON Julien (Fra)

116 TERPSTRA Niki (Ned)

117 TURGIS Anthony (Fra)

118 VAN GESTEL Dries (Bel)

NTT Pro Cycling (RSA)

121 NIZZOLO Giacomo (Ita)

122 CAMPENAERTS Victor (Bel)

123 GIBBONS Ryan (Rsa)

124 GOGL Michael (Aut)

125 VALGREN Michael (Den)

126 KREUZIGER Roman (Cze)

127 O’CONNOR Ben (Aus)

128 WALSHEID Max (Ger)

Israel Start-Up Nation (Isr)

131 POLITT Nils (Ger)

132 BARBIER Rudy (Fra)

133 BIERMANS Jenthe (Bel)

134 BOIVIN Guillaume (Can)

135 HOFSTETTER Hugo (Fra)

136 NEILANDS Krists (Lat)

137 WURTZ SCHMIDT Mads (Den)

138 VAN ASBROECK Tom (Bel)

Nippo-Delko-One Provence (Fra)

141 EL FARES Julien (Fra)

142 BARBIER Pierre (Fra)

143 COMBAUD Romain (Fra)

144 DIAZ Juan Manuel (Esp)

145 NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas (LTU)

146 RAJOVIC Dusan (Srb)

147 SISKEVICIUS Evaldas (LTU)

148 TRARIEUX Julien (Fra)

Circus-Wanty Gobert (Bel)

151 MEURISSE Xandro (Bel)

152 DE GENDT Aime (Bel)

153 DEVRIENDT Tom (Bel)

154 DOUBEY Fabien (Fra)

155 PASQUALON Andrea (Ita)

156 VAN POPPEL Boy (Ned)

157 VAN POPPEL Danny (Ned)

158 VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter (Bel)

B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM

161 COQUARD Bryan (Fra)

162 BACKAERT Frederick (Bel)

163 BARTHE Cyril (Fra)

164 DEBUSSCHERE Jens (Bel)

165 GAUTIER Cyril (Fra)

166 PACHER Quentin (Fra)

167 REZA Kevin (Fra)

168 SCHONBERGER Sebastien (Aut)