The start and finish towns of Achères and Carrières-sous-Poissy lie virtually side by side, but the riders are first sent out on a large loop to the west, before the stage concludes with two laps of a local circuit.
The opening part of the big loop is flat to gently rolling. Towards the end, the Côte de Gargenville and the Côte de Vaux-sur-Seine provide some modest climbing (and mountain points). They measure 2.5 kilometres at 4.8% and 1.4 kilometres at 7%, respectively.
After 130 kilometres, the riders enter the finishing circuit, which they tackle two and a half times in total. After the first passage of the finish line, the Côte de Chanteloup-les-Vignes serves up 1.1 kilometres at 8.3%, and following the second passage the same short and sharp climb appears again. From the summit, 10 kilometres remain to the finish — half of it downhill, the other half flat.
Last year, Tim Merlier sprinted to the first leader’s jersey in Paris–Nice, although the course was considerably easier than it is this time. The finale now more closely resembles that of two years ago, when Olav Kooij capitalised.
The first three riders across the line gain 10, 6 and 4 bonus seconds, while 6, 4 and 2 seconds are available at the intermediate sprint.
Ride the route yourself? Download GPX stage 1 Paris-Nice 2026.
Stage 1 of Paris–Nice starts at 12:50 and the race is expected to finish around 17:00 – both local times (CET).
Paris-Nice 2026 stage 1: route, profiles, videos
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