Arnaud Démare (FDJ) claimed victory in the opening stage of Paris-Nice over the unlikeliest of sprint rivals, the Basque climber Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), in one of the closest photo finishes likely to be seen this season.
The Frenchman, who won the opening stage last year and the opening road stage two years ago, made it a hat trick as he edged out Izagirre on the narrow cobbled drag to the line.
Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) narrowly beat Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) in what was itself a photo finish for third place. Mike Teunissen (Sunweb) and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), fifth and sixth, were the other riders in the mix, with the rest of the riders from the fragmented bunch coming in at least two seconds back.
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The French champion earned a 10 second time bonus, and leads Izagirre in the general classification by four seconds over the Basque rider, with Laporte at six seconds.
From a general classification perspective, the big loser was Tejay van Garderen (BMC), who abandoned the race shortly after a crash with 30 kilometres remaining. Warren Barguil, in his first WorldTour outing with Fortuneo-Samsic, lost 34 seconds, while Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Ilnur Zakarin were both caught up in a late crash and lost 1:38 and 5:14, respectively. Meanwhile Alaphilippe and Wellens stole two seconds on the rest of the overall contenders.
The two-kilometre final climb in Meudon made for an intriguing battle between punchier riders like Alaphilippe and Izagirre, and the more versatile sprinters like Démare.
How it unfolded
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Race Results http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2018/stage-1/results
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