![]() Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor, Charlie Grosskost, Eddy Merckx, and Rik Van Loy line-up for the 1968 Paris-Nice (Getty Images) Three stages in Corsica followed in 1964, including a 34km time trial, won by Rudi Altig. The 1963 edition took another detour, with a single stage in Corsica, from Ajaccio to Bastia, via the Col de Vizzavona and the Col de Teghine. In 1955, the leader's jersey finally settled on being white, but four years later, the name changed yet again to Paris-Nice-Rome, with a parcours that took in 12 stages, including finishes in Florence and Siena. The leaders jersey went green, briefly, then yellow, and the name also changed to Paris-Cote d'Azur. There was some tinkering, with style and format. Hour Record holder Maurice Archambaud took the overall classification by almost 10 minutes.Īs France recovered from the horrors of WWII, Paris-Nice tentatively re-emerged. The cold and snow followed the convoy to the Cote d'Azur, where just 19 riders arrived in Nice. ![]() Sixty-seven riders abandoned the snowbound 233km stage from Nevers to St Etienne, through the Monts du Forez, in what Roger Lapebie, who took refuge in a farmhouse, described as a 'white hell'. The 1939 race, shadowed by the looming threat of war, was also marked by a vicious stage that would definitely fail the rigours of the current extreme weather protocol. His leader's jersey was blue with a band of gold, the colours of the Mediterranean sea and the sunlight of the Cote d'Azur.īut the capricious nature of the French winter has always cast a long shadow. Six days later, just 66 riders from the 149 made it to Nice where the race was won by Alphonse Schepers. ![]() A peloton of 149 riders started at Cafe Rozes on the Place d'Italie, at 5am, in the darkness of a winter morning. The inaugural race was notable for the 312 kilometre stage from Paris to Dijon, which remains the longest-ever stage in the history of the event. The Course au Soleil was first run 90 years ago, in 1933. Paris-Nice has long been a reflection of trends in the professional peloton, from its status as an early-season barometer of form, to daringly innovative stages outside mainland France, a prize for the best descender, invitations to Japanese teams and the first use of the UCI's infamous and controversial hematocrit test. The race, beloved of Jean Leuillot, patriarch of the Monde Six clan, which had also had Jacques Anquetil as race director for almost two decades, survived the storm, but there was no doubt that something had been lost. The Republique, Mont Faron, the Tanneron, Chalet Reynard, renowned climbs of previous editions of the Race to the Sun, were slowly eradicated as ASO's no-nonsense pragmatism took over. The leader's jersey, worn by Vandenbroucke and before him, Louison Bobet, Jacques Anquetil, Tom Simpson, Eddy Merckx, Raymond Poulidor, Sean Kelly, and Miguel Indurain morphed from signature white, to the less distinctive yellow of ASO races. It was a deal that saved Paris-Nice from going the same way as the now-extinct Midi Libre, but it also homogenised one of the most beautiful and idiosyncratic races of the calendar, for so long a deep-dive, for better or worse, into old-school French cycling culture. Inevitably, ASO, promoters of the Tour de France, swooped to take the race from Fignon. Some joked that 100 French francs was enough to get your name on the white leader's jersey. Within two years, the Leuillot family, owners of Monde Six, the race's longstanding organisers, had sold the race to the recently retired Laurent Fignon, who was already promoter of lesser-known events.īut post-Festina, France had turned its back on road racing and, despite all its status and longevity, ownership of the nation's second biggest stage race had become a poisoned chalice.įignon was soon strapped for cash, beset by a financial crisis and battling against the negative image of the sport, scrambling around for sponsors for the intermediate sprints and the mountain primes. If that humiliating doping scandal was bad for the Tour de France and very bad for French teams, it also spelt the deathknell for Paris-Nice's creaking traditions.įrank Vandenbroucke emerges through the gloom on the Col de la République at the 1998 Paris-Nice (Getty Images) That year's Paris-Nice was an illusion, a roll call of malpractice that came to a head with the explosive revelations of that summer's Festina Affair. The 'Race to the Sun' was about to witness the crowning of a young prince, the 'phenonemal' Frank 'Van Den Broucke' (as the race called him), who emerged through the sub-zero whiteout to win the key mountain stage in that year's race.īut there was something else we didn't fully realise. Although none of us, huddling together in the finish-line blizzard, fully realised it at the time, so had Paris-Nice.
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