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Stage by stage
stage 1 - Dampierre-en-Yvelines 
Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
9.4 km
Sunday 4 March
Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
9.4 km
Sunday 4 March
Individual time-trial - A sporting perspective
For the third year running, the start of Paris-Nice will take place in the Yvelines department. This event will take place in a land of cycling tradition, for a time-trial in the very heart of the Chevreuse Valley, which played host to the greatest moments of the Grand Prix des Nations. Setting off from Dampierre-les-Yvelines, the riders will immediately have to tackle the Côte des 17 Tournants slope, known by all the Ile de France region’s amateur cyclists as a testing ground for climbing skills. Until Saint-Rémy, it will be a demanding route: to keep with the pace, there will not be a second to lose.
Dampierre-en-Yvelines
View of Dampierre-en-Yvelines© Jean-Yves Guilloteau
With a history stretching back almost a thousand years, the village of Dampierre-en-Yvelines, located between Versailles and Rambouillet, in the heart of the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Natural Park, now numbers 1,200 inhabitants, together with the four surrounding hamlets. Its fame is due in large part to its château, owned by the Luynes family. It was built between 1675 and 1683 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Charles Honoré d’Albert de Luynes, Duke of Chevreuse and Colbert’s son-in-law, while the park was designed by Le Nôtre. From 1876 to 1954, the hamlet of Maincourt-sur-Yvette also thrived thanks to its sandstone quarries (of which traces remain) and its town hall-cum-church – one of few such examples in France, in which the two adjoin back to back within the same structure. In summer, visitors also flock to enjoy the charms of Dampierre, the surrounding woods and the many lively restaurants.
Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse
Entrance to the Regional Nature Park© Pascal Bouchain
Alighting from the RER B regional train at the terminus in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, visitors are often surprised to discover green and rolling countryside, dotted with grazing cows from the nearby Coubertin farm. The Yvette flows through the heart of these grasslands stretching west to Chevreuse, the neighbouring town dominated by the Château de la Madeleine. This 11th-century mediaeval fortress now houses the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Nature Park Centre, which bears ample witness to its rich and tumultuous history. While the town has carefully preserved its historical and environmental heritage, it is nevertheless a bustling hub of 8,000 inhabitants with a highly-developed business network, including some sixty locally-based shops, several expert craft workers and a range of renowned companies. The town and the many volunteers of its various associations also participate on a daily basis in its cultural and sporting life.