Across its eight days of racing, Paris-Nice offers a little bit of everything. The roads are narrow and technical, and the weather is notoriously crummy. 

The first half of the week, expect to see classics-style racing, animated by the likes of Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven. In the back half of the race, climbers will dominate the roads on punchy and twisty ascents.

In 2022, seven North Americans will be featured in Paris-Nice, and they all have a skillset to make an impact on the race.

Matteo Jorgenson

Movistar’s Matteo Jorgenson is one of America’s most promising GC contenders. Jorgenson proved as much at last year’s Paris-Nice, where his calm and collected racing earned him eighth overall.

Although he looks like a classics rider, Jorgenson excels on climbs, and his recent fourth place finish in Tour de la Provence indicates that he has been taking his time trialing seriously as well. Jorgeonson’s calm, smooth and collected racing style gives him an advantage on the chaotic roads of Paris-Nice. While he looks like a veteran rider, Jorgenson is in fact only 22 years old. Movistar will once again give him leadership in Paris-Nice, as he tries to build on his 2021 success.

Brandon McNulty

Brandon McNulty’s 2021 season was marred by several crashes, one of which resulted in a heartbreaking end to Paris-Nice. McNulty was in third place on the general classification before a crash on stage 6 ended his race. 

Despite the crashes, the former junior time trial world champion has routinely proved his potential over the last year. He ended his 2021 season with a powerful performance at the Tokyo Olympics, and opened his 2022 account with wins in the Faun-Ardèche Classic and Trofeo Calvià. 

McNulty is in with a genuine shot at the yellow jersey at the 2022 Paris-Nice.

Guillaume Boivin

Guillaume Boivin, the current Canadian road champion, will make his Paris-Nice debut this year. Boivin is an escape artist, known for infiltrating breakaways on the hardest days of racing. Look for the maple leaf jersey making an early break for the finish throughout the week.

Hugo Houle 

Hugo Houle, the current Canadian time trial champion is the second Québécois on the Israel-Premier Tech roster. Houle is a veteran of the WorldTour peloton and spent the last four years of his career looking after Astana’s GC contenders in windswept stages of the Tour de France.

Houle has entered a new phase of his career on Israel-Premier Tech, one in which he will likely have more opportunities to race for himself. The technical hilly stages of Paris-Nice are perfect for Houle. 

Kevin Vermaerke

Eleventh overall in the 2022 Tour of Oman, Kevin Vermaerke has already shown us his legs are prepped for stage racing in 2022. Although the young Team DSM rider is targeting the Ardennes Classics in 2022, Paris-Nice should be a great opportunity for the developing rider.

Neilson Powless    

Last season, the world witnessed Neilson Powless’ coming of age, as he won the Clásica de San Sebastián. Buoyed by the confidence which comes from a monumental win such as that, Neilson Powless will be an exciting rider to watch.

Lawson Craddock 

Texan Lawson Craddock former teammate of Neilson Powless, joined Team BikeExchange - Jayco for the 2022 season. The current American Time Trial Champion, Craddock is getting a unique opportunity in 2022 to race the Spring Classics and Paris-Nice for the first time on his new team.