Words & photos:
Ivan, Romain & William
Spring is here and the new cycling season is gearing up strongly!
With the Belgian classics approaching on the horizon, we were lucky to have already two major cycling events right at our feet, the Classicissima Milan-Sanremo with a nail-biting final sprint and the 75th edition of the Paris-Nice.
What else can a keen cyclist ask for? Well… ride like a pro!
Since last year, the sportive Paris-Nice Challenge is celebrated just one day before the final Stage of the Pros’ competition. The proposed parkour, short of just a few kms, is almost identical to the Pros’ one and gives the chance to passionate amateur riders to feel for a few hours, like Pro; same starting grid, Mavic neutral support, feeding stations, mechanics for quick bike fitting, photographers along the route and a finisher’s medal to jump-start your cycling weekend in the best way possible.
Some of our members took part in this exciting challenge, choosing all the 110 km option (a shorter 80 km was available too) and share here with us their impressions.
“My first ever sportive, my first ever pelotons: it’s fast fast and elbows are needed!”
Victory! - William
“I’ve found the parkour was amazing, even the highway RN202 where I’ve ridden for the first time ever in a Peloton!
In addition, we had the perfect sunny day… in fact, as we usually do.”
Thumbs up! - Romain
“The Paris-Nice Challenge will always be a special sportive for me, they started organizing it last year and it was my first ever cycling race! Therefore, I couldn’t miss this opportunity to ride it again. Plus, now I knew how to attack my achilles heel: the Grave de Peille climb!”
“[The Challenge] also gave me the opportunity to discover Peille, which after 80 km, I’ve must admit, made me suffer. But still very enjoyable however. I did feel the same suffering again the next day, when I saw Contador climbing it out of the saddle in half of my time!!!”
Big 'thumbs up' to Will and Rom :)
“This year I was lucky to have won my inscription thanks to Mavic, who gave us a cycling kit, opportunity to ride their bikes and share the race with their Ambassadors. However, with our association’s cycling kits, it was easy to spot my fellow commuters and I couldn’t miss the chance of a selfie! The sportive itself was very fast at the beginning on the flat and the first climb, descending… my favourites, were pretty fast too. Knowing about the terrible Grave de Peille, I managed to balance my strengths.”
Yup, the one on the left is exPro Fränk Schleck!
“The Nice-Monaco commutes are quite a good workout for any cycling race in Nice’s hinterland, the legs have managed to overcome the 110 km and 1775 m elevation gain. I’ve loved the descent via Peille’s canyons where I was almost on my own!”
What a challenge and what a pleasure to hear it from the actors themselves, if you want to give our brave members some appreciation, head over to their Strava accounts and give them some kudos for their effort: here’s Romain, here William and here Ivan.
Stay tuned for more stories and adventures!
Within our association’s goals, we are gathering our members around a cycling event or activity each month to both test our daily commute training for longer efforts and especially, to enjoy the one passion that we all share: cycling!
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See you soon and safe riding!