New Zealand cyclists Hayden Roulston and Greg Henderson face
a test of their early season form when they line up for the
Paris to Nice stage race, first of the major races on the new
season.
The 68th edition of the event, also know as the Race to the
Sun, begins on Monday (NZtime) and last eight days. It
contains eight stages covering a distance of 1288 kilometres
and there are opportunities for both New Zealanders to shine.
Henderson is expected to contest the sprints for his new
British Sky team and will need to take his chances early on
-- in the opening 8km time trial prologue at
Montfort-l'Amaury, a southern suburb of Paris, and the
flattish 201km second stage from Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines to
Contres.
A number of big name sprinters are absent, having opted to
contest the less hilly Italian stage race, Tirreno-Adriatico,
but there is still some tough opposition for Henderson to
contend with, such as German André Greipel of HTC-Columbia,
winner of the Tour Down Under in January, and Belgian Gert
Steegmans of RadioShack.
Henderson will be looking to build on his reputation after
winning a stage at the Tour of Spain last year.
Roulston will be expected to serve in Columbia teammate
Greipel's leadout train early on.
But having shone in the climbs in his Tour de France debut
last year he will get opportunities to make his mark later in
the week when the route becomes a roller coaster containing a
number of long and tough climbs.
Roulston said on his website today his knees were still
skinned and hip heavily bruised from a crash during the Ruta
del Sol in Spain less than two weeks ago.
But after a fourth overall in atrocious weather at last
week's 194km Kuurne to Bruxelles and back one-day race in
Belgium, he was happy with his form for the Paris-Nice.
"My form feels pretty good. We have a strong team with
Greipel, our sprinter there, along with some good
individuals," he told NZPA.
"It will be a good week." Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez will be
back to defend his title but Caisse d'Epargne teammate
Alejandro Valverde and double Tour de France winner Alberto
Contador from Astana will provide stiff opposition in the
battle for the yellow jersey.
New Zealander Julian Dean is missing from the field as he is
currently contesting the Tour of Murcia in Spain with his
Garmin team.
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