This year’s edition of Paris-Nice starts with three mostly flat stages, followed by a time trial on day four. In the second half of the stage race, the riders face quite a few altimeters.

Team Jumbo-Visma had a successful edition of the ‘Race to the Sun’ last year, although the course of the final stage was a disappointment. Roglic won three stages and seemed to be on his way to the overall victory, but crashes in the final stage ruined his chances. This year Team Jumbo-Visma wants to take another shot at the final victory.

Sports director Grischa Niermann says the team aims for the highest possible this year. “We will go for a good classification with Primoz. We have a strong selection that will help him as much as possible. On paper, you could say we can compete for success every day, but we will have to make choices if we want to go for the GC. We still have to fix something in Paris-Nice.”

The German sees Paris-Nice as an essential part of preparing the classic spring for several riders. “Some of them will have dot the i’s and cross the t’s for their next goals, but the race is an independent goal, and that’s why we want to perform well here.”

Rohan Dennis had a successful debut with Team Jumbo-Visma last month by winning the Australian time trial championship. In Paris-Nice, the 31-year-old will start in yellow-and-black in Europe for the first time. “Rohan is going to be an important helper in this race”, Niermann continued. “It will be his first race with us as a team. We will take him along in our way of working to become part of the team and Paris-Nice is a good race for this. On the day of the time trial he will also have a chance to go for the win. We are looking forward to working with him.”

In addition to Roglic, Van Aert and Dennis, Steven Kruijswijk, Nathan Van Hooydonck, Mike Teunissen and home rider Christophe Laporte will be at the start.