Paris-Nice Stats
Historical stats
– First winner of the race was Alfons Schepers, back in 1933
– Sean Kelly holds the record for the most GC wins, seven, which he got between 1982 and 1988
– The nations standings is topped by France, with 21 victories, but the last one came in 1997
– Eddy Merckx has the most days spent in the leader’s jersey, 57
– He’s also the rider with the most stage wins to his account, 21, and the most edition in which he nailed at least a victory: 9
– Another Belgian, Freddy Maertens, holds the record for the most wins at a single edition: 6 in 1976
– Ten riders have led the race from the first until the last day: Alfons Scheepers (1933), Jean Bobet (1955), Eddy Merckx (1971), Freddy Maertens (1977), Gerrie Knetemann (1978), Sean Kelly (1986), Alex Zülle (1993), Laurent Jalabert (1997), Frank Vandenbroucke (1998) and Jörg Jaksche (2004)
– In 20 editions, the winner didn’t score a stage win along the way; last one to do that was Davide Rebellin, in 2008
– The longest edition took place in 1959 (2033 kilometers), while the shortest one was in 1973 (850 kilometers)
– 1934 saw the introduction of half-stages in the race, while the 1936 one featured bonus seconds for the first time
– 1969 was the first year in which an individual time trial finished at the top of Col d’Èze
– Highest average speed was recorded in 2010 – 43,118 km/h; lowest one was recorded in 1933 – 33,432 km/h
– 2008 saw the smallest time gap between the winner (Davide Rebellin) and the second placed rider (Rinaldo Nocentini): 3 seconds
– The biggest winning margin came in 1939, when 9 minutes and 33 seconds separated Maurice Archambaud and Frans Bonduel
– René Vietto is the youngest ever winner – 21 years in 1935; Raymond Poulidor is the oldest one, 36 years in 1973
2016 stats
– 22 teams (18 World Tour and 4 Pro Continental) will be at the start of the 74th edition
– Of these, three are winless this season: Delko Marseille, Giant-Alpecin and Lampre-Merida
– Alberto Contador, Luis Leon Sanchez and Richie Porte ar the three former winners to line up for the race
– The riders in Paris-Nice have won a combined total of 7 Grand Tours, 12 Monuments, 3 World Titles and more than 100 Grand Tour stages
– Five neo-pros will ride Paris-Nice: Patrick Bevin, Lilian Calmejane, Daniel Hoelgaard, Odd Christian Eiking and Quentin Pacher
– If Alberto Contador wins the general classification, he’ll equal Jacques Anquetil’s record for the biggest timespan between the first and the last victory: 9 years
– For Sylvain Chavanel, this will be the 16th consecutive participation in the race, a new record
– France has the most riders at the start this year: 40
– Odd Christian Eiking (21 years) is the youngest cyclist to race Paris-Nice, while Matteo Tosatto (41 years) is the oldest one
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