Riders won’t have it easy in the season’s first major stage race as Paris-Nice sees the return of the towering menace of Mont Ventoux for the first time in 20 years.

Race officials unveiled details Tuesday of the 66th “Race to the Sun” with a few twists to a familiar pattern.

Unchanged is the general route of the eight-day race, which opens with a short prologue south of Paris on March 9 and brushes up against the northern and eastern edges of the Massif Central and plunges across Provence until its traditional conclusion along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on March 16.

Perhaps looking to avoid weather problems that have plagued the past few editions of Paris-Nice, the route starts further south and largely avoids the cooler and often snow-bound heights of the Massif Central. The route also skirts the windy mistral of the Rhone Valley and pushes directly into the protected valleys of Provence. Also missing this year is an individual time trial.

Instead of starting in the suburbs of Paris, organizers have moved the opening prologue 125km south of the City of Lights to the Loire Valley with a 4.6km opening prologue in Amilly.

Two sprint-friendly stages push south with stops in Nevers and Belleville before dipping into the Massif Central with the decisive, five-climb 165km third stage to Saint-Etienne. The hilly route tackles the race-breaking Cat. 1 Col de la Croix de Chaubouret before an 18.5km descent into the finish that typically decides who will be fighting for the overall victory.

The route’s highlight will be the 176km fourth stage up the “unexplored” northern face of Mont Ventoux to the ski resort at Mont Serein. The route tackles Ventoux from the “easier” north side of the géant du provence and ends short of the observatory summit.

The last time Ventoux was featured in Paris-Nice was in 1987 when Sean Kelly won in a summit finish at the Chalet Reynard on the traditional southern approach up the climb.

“We expect this to be the decisive stage,” race director Christian Prudhomme told AFP.

The hilly, 172.5km fifth stage to Sisteron is ideally suited for breakaway artists while the seven-climb, 207km sixth stage into Cannes typically sees further settling of the overall classification.

Nothing’s decided until the rollercoaster 122.5km finale over the cols towering above the glittering seaside city of Nice that provides one of cycling’s most glamorous finales.

The route is largely unchanged with the inclusion of the Cat. 1 Col de la Porte early in the stage with Cat. 1 summits at La Turbie and Col d’Eze before a lightning-fast descent into Nice.

As announced last week, defending champion Alberto Contador won’t be racing after his Astana team was excluded from all races organized by ASO, parent company of Paris-Nice, the Tour de France and other major races.

Slipstream-Chipotle is among three wild-card teams to earn bids to give the U.S. team a spot in its most important European race so far in its breakout season. The peloton will include all 17 ProTour teams, with the exclusion of Astana, with 20 teams of eight rides.

There won’t be a lack of stars, however. A solid group of sprinters is expected to start, including Tom Boonen (QuickStep), Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) and Mark Cavendish (High Road).

Overall favorites will include Frank and Andy Schleck (Team CSC), Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne), Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Cadel Evans and Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre).

The French will likely be duking it out for best-French rider honors, with the likes of Christophe Moreau (Agritubel), David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Sandy Casar (FDJeux) expecting to start.

66th Paris-Nice
March 9-16, France
Prologue, March 9: Amilly-Amilly, 4.6km
Stage 1, March 10: Amilly to Nevers, 184.5km
Stage 2, March 11: Nevers to Belleville, 201km
Stage 3, March 12: Fleurie to Saint-Etienne, 164.5km
Stage 4, March 13: Montélimar to Mont Ventoux (Mont Serein ski station), 176km
Stage 5, March 14: Althen-des-Paluds to Sisteron, 172.5km
Stage 6, March 15: Sisteron to Cannes, 203.5km
Stage 7, March 16: Nice-Nice, 122.5km
Total = 1,230km

20 teams for Paris-Nice
Ag2r-La Mondiale
Agritubel*
Bouygues Telecom
Cofidis
Crédit Agricole
Française des Jeux
Gerolsteiner
Milram
High Road
Slipstream-Chipotle*
Caisse d’Epargne
Euskaltel
Saunier Duval
Quick Step
Silence-Lotto
Lampre
Liquigas
CSC
Rabobank
Skil-Shimano*
* = continental team