This year, the Tour de France cycling classic won't begin by the French Riviera as it did last year (in Monaco). In fact, it won't pedal near the Côte d'Azur.
For biking fans visiting or living in Southern France, there's always the Paris-Nice event. For 2010, the Paris-Nice begins on Sunday March 7th and runs until the 14th to cover a total of 1,288 kilometers.
The last two legs of the 8-part race takes place here on the French Riviera. Expect lots of action here: before reaching town of Tourrettes-sur-Loup from Peynie, our rides will climb the tough Col de Vence (9.7 km at a gradient of 6.6%, ouch!).
Then for stage 8, they're off to other ascents at La Turbie and the Col d’Eze before their descent to Villefranche-sur-Mer on the 14th and arrival on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.
22 teams will race the Paris-Nice, including 3 teams from the USA, 1 from Great-Britain, but also Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Switzerland, Kazakhstan
