Sylvain Chavanel will lead Quick Step to Paris-Nice, which starts with a 154.5km stage in the town of Houdan, to the west of the French capital on Sunday. The 31-year-old Frenchman will be looking to repeat his performance in the 2009 race, where he won the third stage, led the race for three days and finished third on the podium; his consistent finishing also netted him the points jersey.
Chavanel’s performance in Paris-Nice that year kick started ‘Mimo’ into his most successful season to date; while the year was relatively short in actual victories he finished in his best ever position of 19th in the Tour de France. While he won two stages of last year’s Tour, taking the yellow jersey both times, the rest of his season was less spectacular.
Also hoping to capture the form of previous years in the Race to the Sun, will be the team’s prodigal son Gert Steegmans. The Belgian enjoyed his best season in 2008, his last with Quick Step before departing for two far less successful ones at Katusha and RadioShack; the season included the prestigious Paris, Champs-Elysées stage of the Tour de France, but began with two consecutive stages of Paris-Nice.
While one team is sent to Paris-Nice, another will be sent to the Driedaagse (Three days) van West-Vlaanderen-Johan Museeuw Classics. The team will be a predominantly Belgian affair, including a second road outing of the year for track specialist Iljo Keisse, who still has the spectre of suspension hanging over him but the International Cycling Union (UCI) seems happy to let him to race in his home country.
With the team enjoying a glut of sprint talent, Italian Francesco Chicchi will be aiming at the fast West Flanders finishes.
Quick Step team for Paris-Nice:
Sylvain Chavanel, Marc De Maar, Kevin De Weert, Nikolas Maes, Jerome Pineau, Francesco Reda, Andreas Stauff and Gert Steegmans.
Quick Step team for Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen-Johan Museeuw Classics:
Andy Cappelle, Francesco Chicchi, Addy Engels, Iljo Keisse, Fréderique Robert, Jan Tratnik, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Julien Vermote.