Velogames Preview – Paris-Nice 2024

I’m watching the end of an historic Strade Bianche race as I write this, and seeing as I’m working in two hours, I’ll try and keep this fairly brief! But here we are, at the start of the stage race championship in Velogames. The warm up races are over. We’ve learned one or two things about some key riders, but several of the favourites lining up for this race are starting their season’s here. I’ll give the lowdown on the route and then move on to chat about the many hopefuls.

The Route

It’s standard stuff for the race to the sun with one exception. There is only one clear sprint stage. The parcours is generally a lot hillier in the earlier stages and only the punchiest of fast men stand a chance of competing in any stage outside of stage 2. Stages 1, 5, and 6 offer a good chance for late raids or breakaways; the team time trial sits on stage 3; and there’ll be guaranteed GC action on stage 4, 7, and 8. With this information, I’d stack your team with GC men and fill the rest for those breakaway hopefuls perhaps. Here’s the profile for stage 4 to get you in the mood for what should be a cracking race.

The GC Contenders

Remco Evenepoel, 28 Credits: The 24 year old comes to Paris-Nice as the race favourite after victory in the Figueira Champions Classic and the Volta Algarve last month. Plenty of stages suit him, and we should expect a great race from him.
Primož Roglič, 24 Credits: The second favourite starts his season here with a brand new team. This will be our first look into how Roglič performs at Bora-hansgrohe after leave Visma last year. He’ll be supported by a strong team, including Aleksandr Vlasov who is 18 credits, and will be hoping to kick 2024 off with a bang.
Mattias Skjelmose, 16 Credits: Trek’s main hope is looking to test his young legs in a major stage race yet again. He’s made a promising start to his season and should also go well here.
João Almeida, 16 Credits: Another rider to start their season here and with the talent available to UAE Team Emirates, he’ll be relishing having sole leadership with great support from a very stacked team.
David Gaudu, 14 Credits: Had a brilliant race here last year finishing 2nd behind Pogačar, but he’s made a quiet start to 2024 and I think a good result here would be a surprise given the competition.
Carlos Rodriguez, 14 Credits: Carlos comes in as the most expensive Ineos rider, but has also made a quiet start to the year. His teammate Egan Bernal is at 12 credits and is very keen to recapture his pre-crash form. Bernal has made a promising start to the season, but maybe these two represent too much of a gamble.
Pello Bilbao, 12 Credits: Always a bit of a sleeper pick with good points potential. He has just finished 3rd at the UAE Tour and he’s got good support in Buitrago and Haig.
Felix Gall, 12 Credits: The 26 year old will be looking to build upon an impressive 2023 season and has some promising form.

The Stage Hunters

Mads Pedersen, 12 Credits: Probably one of the most likely amongst the fast men to potentially feature on stages 1 and 5. It’s still a risk, but he has higher points potential than the other sprinters.
Arnaud De Lie, 10 Credits: A slightly more budget option to Mads and another who could survive on stages 1 and 5.
Alexey Lutsenko, 8 Credits: If Alexey doesn’t fancy hanging in the GC fight, which he probably won’t, then he’ll possibly get himself involved in one or two breaks. His teammate, Christian Scaroni, has been in decent form this year and he’s available for 6 credits.
Ion Izagirre, 8 Credits: A good rider for 8 credits, but he’ll only score points if he gets in some breaks and those breaks make it to the finish.
Aurélien Paret-Peintre, 8 Credits: He’ll possibly be chained to Felix Gall, but just in case he’s not, he’ll fancy getting in one or two breakaways for sure.
Finn Fisher-Black, 8 Credits: He’s made a habit this year and last of sneaking some great results. I don’t doubt he’ll be let off the leash at least once and he has the talent to fight for stages.
Michael Storer, 8 Credits: He had a good showing at the UAE Tour and he’s looking to record some decent results once again at his new Tudor team.

The sprinters who’ll be doing battle on stage 2 and hoping to involved on stage 1 and 5 include Olav Kooij, Arvid De Kleijn, Kaden Groves, Dylan Groenewegen, Fabio Jakobsen, Bryan Coquard, Arnaud Démare, Sam Bennett, Danny Van Poppel, Michael Matthews, Pascal Ackermann and Marijn Van Den Berg. It’s not exactly a small list, but there’s probably a very good reason why Merlier and Philipsen have decided to head to Tirreno instead. As I said earlier, prioritise other rider types and sprinters who can climb, but if you really want to take a sprinter or two, then there’s plenty of choice.

The Bargain Bin

Cheaper riders don’t often score all than well at Paris-Nice, but here are some of the options I’ve spotted that can supplement a top heavy team.

6 Credits
Fred Wright: Bahrain aren’t bringing a sprinter, but if they have an option for the less hard days, then the British champion is the man.
Quentin Pacher: The FDJ man has been good lately and will definitely want to feature on the punchy days.

4 Credits
Alexis Gougeard: Might want a few breaks with Cofidis.
Jack Rootkin-Gray: Interesting cheeky side bet from EF.
Alex Kirsch: He’s often good for a handful of points.

And that’s who I’ve got so far! If I have time later on today, I’ll see about adding to this list. In the meantime, happy picking, and if you fancy joining the league, the code is 914475121. And that’s me off to work, ciao!