Arnaud Démare (FDJ) claimed the first yellow jersey of Paris-Nice after he beat Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) in a two-up sprint at the end of a breathless opening stage that saw Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) excluded from the race for drafting behind a team car.
Demare and Alaphilippe were part of an elite selection that formed in crosswinds an hour into the stage, and then fragmented on the final approach to the finish line. When Alaphilippe attacked on a short climb with a little over a kilometre to go, Démare had no hesitation in bridging across, and then claimed a convincing win in the ensuing sprint.
Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) beat Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step) in the sprint for third, 9 seconds behind, but the time gaps of greatest interest were those to the general classification contenders who had missed the initial split, as Bardet and Richie Porte (BMC) conceded 47 seconds, while Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) came home 1:04 down.
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Bardet's relief at limiting the damage was short-lived, however, as the commissaires took a dim view of the way he latched back on to the chasing group after he went down in a crash with 25 kilometres remaining. Shortly after the stage, the jury announced that he had been disqualified.
Bardet, Porte and Contador, along with Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) were among those to miss the bus when the peloton was broken into echelons with 100 kilometres remaining, and for most of the afternoon, they remained locked in grim pursuit, a little over a minute down.
Up ahead, Dan Martin (Quick-Step), Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) and Sergio Henao (Sky) were the chief beneficiaries in the battle for overall victory, while the front group also contained a retinue of fast men, namely Démare, Marcel Kittel (Quick-Step), André Greipel (Lotto Soudal), Kristoff and Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie).
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