10 riders to watch at Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico

This year’s edition of Paris-Nice features a punchy parcours, including a team time trial in stage three. Pure sprinters will likely have only one real opportunity, meaning those targeting the sprint stages will need strong legs throughout the week.

Davide Piganzoli is a very intriguing talent. At Polti VisitMalta he was already performing at a high level, and it looks like his move to Team Visma | Lease a Bike was exactly the step he needed at this stage of his career.

He opened his first season with the team in good form, finishing 18th in the Faun Drôme Classic and an impressive sixth place in the Faun Ardèche Classic, the latter being the tougher of the two races.

So what can he do in Paris-Nice? He lines up alongside leader Jonas Vingegaard, but that does not necessarily mean his chances of riding for a result are gone. Visma also brings strong climbing domestiques in Victor Campenaerts, Bruno Armirail and Wilco Kelderman, meaning Piganzoli should not have to start working early in the race.

Valentin Paret-Peintre is a rapidly developing rider.

Last year he won the Mont Ventoux stage in the Tour de France. The plan afterwards was to target the general classification at the Vuelta a España, but unfortunately he had to abandon in stage four due to illness.

This season he started rather mediocre in the Tour of Oman, the race where he won a stage last year ahead of Adam Yates and David Gaudu and finished second in the general classification. However, he did suffer a crash in this year’s edition, which certainly affected his performance.

After the Tour of Oman he went on altitude camp, which is perfect preparation with the Race to the Sun approaching. The punchy character of this year’s route should also suit him well, as he is a very explosive climber.

Daniel Felipe Martínez is the enigma of the enigmas. There may not be a rider in the peloton who is harder to predict than Martínez.

He has struggled a lot with illness and injuries, but when he is healthy he can absolutely fly. At the moment he seems to be free of the problems he dealt with last year. He opened his season in the Volta ao Algarve, finishing seventh in the general classification.

Just like Paret-Peintre, the punchy climbs of this Paris-Nice route should suit him very well. In contrast to the young Frenchman, Martínez also has a strong time trial, which could be important in the team time trial when aiming for a good general classification.

Aleksandr Vlasov is another one of those enigmas.

Not too long ago, in 2022, he was performing so well that he was considered one of the outsiders for the Tour de France. That season still stands as the best year of his career, finishing fifth in the UCI World Ranking, a very impressive achievement.

In the years after that, illness started to play a bigger role in his seasons. He still produced solid results, but they were less impressive than in 2022.

Last year was particularly difficult for Vlasov, but this season he seems to be slowly returning to his old level. Like Martínez and Paret-Peintre, the punchy climbs of this Paris-Nice route should suit him well, and over the years he has also developed a strong time trial.

It will be interesting to see what the Race to the Sun has in store for him.

With all due respect, Callum Scotson is obviously a level below the other riders on this list, so why include him?

If you only look at his results, he may appear to be a fairly average cyclist. But that would be misleading. Scotson is actually a very underrated mountain domestique, which is exactly why he deserves to be mentioned here.

In the upcoming races, keep an eye on him. Watch how long he survives in the mountain stages. If you look at his posture on the bike, you would not immediately think he is a climber, yet he often lasts surprisingly long.

Domestiques are often underrated in cycling, and Scotson is a perfect example. He is such a loyal rider that he rarely goes for his own chances in grand tours, which means many people do not realise how strong he actually is.

The Tirreno-Adriatico also has a punchy character this year and does not feature a real mountain top finish like in recent editions. But do not be fooled, the parcours is still very tough. There has been quite some discussion about Filippo Ganna potentially winning the general classification, but if he wants to do that he will need to be in the form of his life.

The race starts with its traditional time trial in Lido di Camaiore and also offers several opportunities for strong sprinters.

Alessandro Pinarello recently made the transfer from VF Group Bardiani CSF Faizanè to NSN Cycling Team.

He immediately seems to be in the best form of his career, finishing seventh on the Fóia climb at the Volta ao Algarve. The riders ahead of him were all world class names such as Juan Ayuso and João Almeida.

After Algarve he did not perform particularly well in the Trofeo Laigueglia, but that race can often be unpredictable and does not always say too much about a rider’s form.

Next up for him are Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico, a very nice program for the young Italian rider.

The punchy character of the Tirreno parcours should suit him well. He has the explosive effort in his legs, even if pure high mountain climbing is not his biggest strength. It will be interesting to see whether he can take the next step in his career.

Tobias Lund Andresen impressed a lot during the Belgian opening weekend. We already knew him as a very strong sprinter, something he also showed earlier this year in Australia. However, the way he handled the climbs in both Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne was a clear step forward.

In Omloop he was still with the best riders on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and even dropped most of the group on the Bosberg, behind only Mathieu van der Poel and Florian Vermeersch. Afterwards he won the sprint of that group with a clear margin.

This suggests a new level of endurance for Andresen, something he can build on in tougher races.

Tirreno-Adriatico offers chances for strong sprinters in stages three, four and seven. However, in stages three and four the sprinters will need to be very strong to survive the terrain. Those stages may also offer opportunities for breakaway riders, meaning teams will need to control the race carefully.

Madis Mihkels is another very powerful sprinter. His main weakness is often positioning, but when he manages to start the sprint from a good position he can be extremely fast on both flat and slightly uphill finishes.

He has also shown that he has a very big engine, for example with his top ten finish at the Paris-Roubaix in 2024.

However, in contrast to Andresen, he has not always managed to show his full potential consistently.

This Tirreno-Adriatico could offer a good opportunity. If he manages to survive the harder stages in the front group and sprint from a reduced peloton, positioning will become much easier.

Ilan Van Wilder is an underrated rider. If you scroll through his results, they are often better than many people remember.

Now that Remco Evenepoel is no longer in the team leadership at Soudal Quick-Step, Van Wilder should logically get more opportunities to ride for his own chances.

In the UAE Tour his general classification was affected by a crash on an uphill section, which means the final result does not fully reflect his level.

This Tirreno-Adriatico route should suit him well. With the opening time trial and the absence of very high mountains, it offers a good chance for a strong all round stage racer.

Clément Champoussin is one of those riders who can suffer incredibly deep. Sometimes it is almost scary to see how far he can push himself.

A perfect example is the final of stage twenty in the Vuelta a España in 2021, which he won on pure determination. Last year he performed very well in Paris-Nice, but this season he has chosen to ride Tirreno-Adriatico instead.

His time trial is not his biggest strength, but in the punchy stages he should certainly be able to play a role.