Cycling News

07 March 2010

I haven’t had much success at Paris-Nice in the past so I’m happy to arrive into Paris in good form and ready to race. I’m really motivated for a strong performance here as it is my first objective for the 2010 season.

My plan since the beginning of my preparation for the season was to be around 90% fit going into this race and I feel that I’m pretty close to that.

My goal for the race is to try and ride well on the general classification. To achieve this, firstly I have to get to Nice and stay healthy for the duration of the race. In the past this has always been my biggest obstacle. I'm not expecting any miracle results this year but racing for the GC is something I want to work on in the hope to be a real contender in the future.

We will have a good idea who the favourites are following the prologue then after stage 4 into Mende the GC should really start to take shape. But the great thing about Paris-Nice is that the race isn't over until the final sprint along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Anything can happen right up until the end.

We have a strong line up with Team SKY. Steve Cummings and myself are focusing on the GC while Greg Henderson will be our man for the sprints. Geraint Thomas will be a real contender for the prologue and we have some really experienced stage race riders with Sylvain Calzati, Dario Cioni, Kjell Calstrom and Serge Pauwells.

Simon.

TEAM SKY for the 2010 PARIS-NICE
Sylvain Calzati, Kjell Carlstrom, Dario Cioni, Steve Cummings, Simon Gerrans, Greg Henderson, Serge Pauwels and Geraint Thomas

Directors: Sean Yates and Steven de Jongh

STAGES
Sunday 7 March: Prologue: Montfort-l'Amaury to Montfort-l'Amaury - 8 km
Monday 8 March: Stage One: Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines to Contres - 201.5 km
Tuesday 9 March: Stage Two: Contres to Limoges - 201 km
Wednesday 10 March: Stage Three: Saint-Junien to Aurillac - 208 km
Thursday 11 March: Stage Four: Maurs to Mende - 173.5 km
Friday 12 March: Stage Five: Pernes-les-Fontaines to Aix-en-Provence - 157 km
Saturday 13 March: Stage Six: Peynier to Tourrettes-sur-Loup - 220 km
Sunday 14 March: Stage Seven: Nice to Nice - 119 km

For more information including race reports, please visit the Team Sky website at www.teamsky.com

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