While Yates says his focus is purely on the 2019 Giro d'Italia and not entirely the GC at Paris-Nice, last year's runner-up will no doubt light things up like he did in late February on the Ruta del Sol's queen stage.
There the Brit dropped the main field on the final climb, 26km from the finish, soloing to an emphatic stage victory.
“I enjoy Paris-Nice, it's a good race and I've done it every year since I've been a professional," he said. "It's a very important part of the season but I’m not going there to target it, as everyone knows, I'm going 100 percent for the Giro d’Italia.
"We have a strong team here so we should be in the mix for most stages and as always we’ll give 100%.
“It looks like a very typical Paris-Nice course, so we’ll need to have caution in the beginning before we arrive in the mountains later in the week. From there I’ll try to do the best GC possible and to hopefully take a step up from last week in Andalusia.”
Yates will face Romain Bardet (AG2R), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First), Rudy Molard (FDJ), Egan Bernal (Sky), Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky), Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) Fabio Aru (UAE) and last year's winner Marc Soler - with Movistar colleagues Nairo Quintana and Winner Anacona in tow.
Quintana is fresh from a fourth overall at the Tour of Colombia while Anacona won February's Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina.
2019 Paris-Nice sprinter fest
Trentin, who also won for Mitchelton-Scott at Ruta del Sol - twice, is eyeing five of the stages more suited to the faster men.
“I am getting better from the crash I had on Sunday in Belgium," the European road race champion said. "I went out this week on the bike and had no pain and everyday is getting better. For Paris-Nice I feel confident and I think there are actually five possibilities for me. The harder stage on Friday is probably the one that will suit me better than all of the others.
“Of course to take another win would be nice and especially preparing the condition, preparing 100% for the races that come after Paris-Nice which are the most important from this first block of the year. I am confident, the team is confident so let's see what we can do.”
Also suiting up for the sprint stages is Aussie Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), the man Ewan replaced at Lotto Soudal, Andre Greipel (Arkéa Samsic), Marcel Kittel (Katusha Alpecin), Michael Matthews (Sunweb), Arnaud Demare (Groupama FDJ), Alexander Kristoff (UAE) and Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe).
2019 Paris-Nice LIVE on SBS and streaming to Cycling Central/SBS OnDemand apps:
Sunday 10 March - 2335-0105 AEDT
Stage 1, Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 138.5km
Tuesday 12 March - 0115-0245 AEDT
Stage 2, Les Breviaries to Bellegarda, 163.5km
Wednesday 13 March - 0115-0245 AEDT
Stage 3, Cepoy to Moulins/Yzeure, 200km
Thursday 14 March - 0115-0245 AEDT
Stage 4, Vichy to Pelussin, 210.5km
Friday 15 March - 0120-0245 AEDT
Stage 5, Barbentane to Barbentane, ITT 25.5km
Saturday 16 March - 0115-0245 AEDT
Stage 6, Peynier to Brignoles, 176.5km
* Sunday 17 March - 0125-0310 AEDT* SBS VICELAND
Stage 7, Nice to Col de Turini - La Bollene-Vesubie, 181.5km
Monday 18 March - 0120-0310 AEDT
Stage 8, Nice to Nice, 110km
