More than a month after the WorldTour season began with the Santos Tour Down Under, the second event on the calendar, Paris-Nice, is well underway. And while there’s only been two days of racing so far, there’s been no shortage of action and excitement for fans to enjoy; Australian fans in particular.
Michael Matthews’ win in the prologue time trial came as a surprise to many, not least to Tom Dumoulin, a renowned time-trialist who was relegated to second place by the sprinter/puncheur Matthews.
The race continued to go well for Matthews on stage 1 with the Australian finishing fifth and hanging on to the yellow jersey. Matthews was left to fend for himself in the closing kilometres of a stage that threw just about everything at the riders: strong winds, snow and a tough muddy circuit in the closing kilometres.
Arnaud Demare (FDJ) took the stage win but it will be Matthews that wears the maillot jaune on stage 2 — another day for the sprinters. Until then though, we hope you enjoy this selection of photos from stage 1 of Paris-Nice.
Photo gallery
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- The day’s breakaway: Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Steven Tronet (Fortuneo – Vital Concept), Thierry Hupond (Delko Marseille), and Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie).
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- Michael Matthews was well protected by his Orica-GreenEdge teammates early in the stage.
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- De Gendt and Hupond left their breakaway companions behind but all would ultimately be caught roughly 21km from the finish.
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- The peloton hits the gravel.
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- Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) will be hoping for a good hit-out at Paris-Nice this week ahead of the cobbled classics.
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- Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) launches an unsuccessful move in the closing kilometres.
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- Matthews was isolated in the closing stages after Daryl Impey suffered a puncture on the gravel.
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- Geraint Thomas (Sky) tries to leave his mark on the race. He would eventually finish 10th in the bunch sprint while his teammate Ben Swift was second.
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- The race eventually came back together for a sprint which was won by Arnaud Demare. Victory salute of the year so far.
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- Matthews leads Tom Dumoulin by three seconds and Paddy Bevin (Cannondale) by four.