Hunt for last spot at Paris-Nice begins - strongest ProTeams pass up on their guaranteed wildcards!
Cycling
Paris-Nice is traditionally one of the big spring objectives for GC riders as well as their teams. And while that naturally applies to WorldTeams, it is even more important race for the ProTeams for which the French stage race can serve as an early test with view to a Tour de France participation.
And while attending the 8-day race is privilege for many, neither of the two ProTeams with guaranteed wildcards have chosen to race to the sun. Lotto is slightly short-staffed with only 25 riders on this year's roster and will thus ride a bit more compact schedule with aim to maximise points income. The reasons behind Israel - Premier Tech skipping Paris-Nice are less clear, but we can assume the motivation is to take some load off their schedule as well.
Selected by the organiser to receive the 2025 Paris-Nice wildcards are Tudor Pro Cycling, Uno-X Mobility and TotalEnergies.
Wildcard for Tudor Pro Cycling was also to be expected with a star signing of Julian Alaphilippe (who might skip the race in favor of Italian racing programme focused around Strade Bianche) and an extreme depth to its 2025 roster which includes Marc Hirschi, Matteo Trentin or Michael Storer. Tudor already made a debut at the French WT race last year, but in 2025 they shoot for Tour de France wildcard and thus strong performance in Paris-Nice would be expected.
On the other hand Uno-X Mobility will be back after a year pause. The goal is certainly to improve a lukewarm impression from the 2023 debut without a single top-10 result. The logical decision to bring the strongest French PRT team in 2025 doesn't require much further explaining.
Along with 18 WT teams this means that there is one empty spot. The organiser promised to provide more details as to who will be awarded the final wildcard soon enough with Unibet Tietema Rockets as favourites thanks to their French license.
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