[1] The event is nicknamed The Race to the Sun, as it runs in the first half of March, typically starting in cold and wintry conditions in the French capital before reaching the spring sunshine on the Côte d'Azur.

During the 2003 edition, Kazakh rider Andrey Kivilev died as a result of a head injury sustained in a crash.

[3][4] His death prompted UCI to mandate the use of helmets in all competitions of cycling, except for the last part of a race with an uphill finish.

[6] The race linked the French capital with the fashionable seaside city of Nice on France's Mediterranean coast.

The first Paris–Nice comprised six stages and was promoted as Les Six Jours de la Route (English: Six Days of the Road).

As most mountain roads were still impassable because of its early calendar date, the route avoided the Alps and primarily followed the lower Rhône Valley, with the only significant climbs on the last day on the outskirts of Nice.

Other newspapers from Southern France, Lyon Républicain and Marseille-Matin, partnered with Lejeune's titles to sponsor the race.

[8][9] In 1969, the final stage was moved from the seaside promenade in Nice to the top of the Col d'Èze hill overlooking the city.

In 1972 eternal second Poulidor ended the Cannibal's streak by winning the final time trial and narrowly finishing ahead of Merckx.

In the 1980s Ireland's all-round specialist Sean Kelly won the race seven consecutive times from 1981 the winning record to date.

The Race to the Sun produced several other foremost winners in the 1990s, notably Spanish Grand Tour specialist Miguel Induráin and Swiss Tony Rominger.

[15] In 2012 England's Bradley Wiggins won the race, as part of his build-up to the Tour de France.

[16] Wiggins was the ninth rider who won the Race to the Sun prior to winning the Tour de France.

The race was held with buffer zones to restrict public access and was reduced to seven stages as a response to the worsened situation in the early weeks of March.

The race starts on Sunday, most often with a prologue time trial near Paris, followed by a series of road stages southwards across France.

Due to France's geography, the early stages are usually flat and suited for sprinters, before moving further south towards the Provence region.

Known as The Race to the Sun, Paris–Nice is often considered a mini-Tour de France, where riders need to be both competent time-trialists and capable of climbing mountains.

In 1996, the finish was moved back to the Promenade des Anglais because of the low number of spectators on Col d'Èze and to take advantage of funding from the city of Nice.

In 1996 and 1997 the final stage was a flat time trial in the streets of Nice, won by Chris Boardman and Viatcheslav Ekimov respectively.

From 1998 to 2011, the final stage was a road race – usually on a hilly terrain with the climbs of the Col d'Èze and La Turbie – starting and ending in Nice.

The King of the Mountains jersey has white with red polka dots, as in the Tour de France, since the race's takeover by ASO.