Our stage-by-stage preview of the 42nd edition of the Tour du Haut Var which takes place on February 20-21.
The route facing the riders in the south of France
After two weeks on the tours of Qatar and Oman, Team Sky make their return to Europe at the Tour du Haut Var on February 20-21.
In the Middle East it was the sprinters who dominated the standings due to an abundance of relatively flat terrain, but this two-day tester in Provence will have the climbers champing at the bit for their first real battle of the season.
Frenchmen Nicolas Portal and Sylvain Calzati will be hoping to shine on home soil and they are joined by Michael Barry, Dario Cioni, Chris Froome, Peter Kennaugh, Morris Possoni and Ben Swift in Team Sky's eight-man squad.
Although the race takes place in the south-east corner of France, the temperatures are unlikely to rise above 13 degrees centigrade and rain is forecast for both days. It's going to be a tough old slog and here we take a look at the route the riders are going to face.
Saturday 20 February: Stage One - La Croix Valmer to Grimaud - 175.6km
Once the peloton has rolled north out of La Croix Valmer they will only have six kilometres to get themselves up to speed before the first of four climbs up the category 3-rated Col de Gassin. It's a short, sharp hike which will certainly get the blood pumping. After an equally steep descent the course flattens out along the coastline at the swish resort of St Tropez before the first sprint section of the day comes at Grimaud (36.4km).
Once that is done and dusted the route heads further inland and climbs steadily until the second category 3 summit on the Col de la Garde Freinet (45.7km). It's onwards through Les Mayons and up to Le Luc (70km) for another sprint before the riders head east for the biggest ascent of the day, the category 1 Col du Revest (107km). From there, they plunge all the way back down to sea level at Ste-Maxime (117km) and follow the coast north all the way up to St Aygulf (131km) before heading inland again and looping back around for the final category 2-rated Col du Bougnon (145.6km). The action does not end there however, as there is one final sprint when they head back into Ste-Maxime (155.7km) and the day's racing finishes with a steep uphill finish in Grimaud.
Sunday 21 February: Stage Two - Draguignan to Montrauoux - 200.7km
Saturday looks tough enough but the parcours for day two move up another level. In a hectic opening 100km they head west, up the category 2 climb of La Bastide de Tourtour (17.7km), before looping round in an anti-clockwise direction into Salernes for the first sprint of the day after 38.3km. Once those points have been decided it's back into Draguignan for another sprint in the town centre (59.9km) before the road rises up for a beast of a climb on the category 1-rated Côte des Tuilières (63.1km).
There's little respite after that though as the Col du Blavet (category 2) follows at the 90.7km mark. Mercifully, once they are over that summit the route calms down a bit for the next 40km or so as the peloton continues east towards Montauroux. The riders pass south of there and take on a clockwise lap which includes the Col des Marjoris (category 2 at 127.3km). When they return to Montauroux there are two 300m sections with gradients of over 22% before the monster that is the Col de Mons (156.3km). This hors-categorie brute will definitely sort the men from the boys and those who make it over the top in contention will fancy their chances for a stage win. It's downhill all the way until the final sprint section in Seillans (176.6km) and then back around to Montauroux a third time for another uphill finish.
