Paris-Nice prologue: Matthews beats Dumoulin to claim yellow jersey

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Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) pulled of something of a surprise on the opening day of the 2016 Paris-Nice, taking victory in the 6.1km prologue in his first race of the season.

The Australian has once again opted for a late start to the season but showed no signs of rustiness as he powered through the relatively flat course on the very outskirts of Paris in a time of 7:39.

He went one second quicker than time trial specialist Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) and two seconds faster than New Zealand time trial champion Patrick Bevin (Cannondale). Matthews now leads the race overall ahead of that pair.

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"It's my first race of the season so to beat a guy like Dumoulin who is one of the best time trial specialists in the world, it's definitely very special," said Matthews.

"It wasn't really on the top of my goals list for Paris-Nice. I was hoping for a top five today to be around the guys and then try and take the yellow in one of the next stages. It obviously all came together and I am happy I was able to take the win.

"We will take it day by day and now that I have the jersey we will just try and look after it for as long as possible."

Bevin, who is in his first season at the WorldTour level and in his European debut with Cannondale was thrilled to be so high in the rankings after the stage.

"Last year I watched this race. I was on the ergo at home in New Zealand training in the rain," Bevin said. "To be here a year later and pretty close to the top guys is a good feeling. That’s what you train to do – to be a part of that race."

The short course in Conflans-SainteHonrine looked pan flat on paper but after an opening stretch along the river Seine, the road turned sharply round to the left and kicked up, with most riders having to get out of the saddle. It was mostly flat thereafter but matters were complicated by five 90-degree turns and rain for the earlier starters.

As was to be expected from such a short time trial, there were no huge gaps between the general classification contenders, though Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) did open up nine seconds on 2010 champion Alberto Contador, who he beat at the Volta ao Algarve last month.

Ion Izaguirre, second at Algarve, finished fifth, six seconds down on Matthews and one second ahead of Thomas. Richie Porte (BMC) finished 10 seconds back to take six seconds on Contador, who was also beaten by two seconds by his teammate Rafal Majka.

Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal), like Contador, was 16 seconds off the lead, while Andrew Talansky found himself at 18 seconds and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) at 20.

Perhaps the biggest loser was Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), who finished 25 seconds down on Matthews. The gap between him and the other GC contenders isn’t huge but week-long stage races with balanced parcours can often be decided by slender margins.

The eight-day race continues on Monday with the opening road stage, taking the riders over gravel tracks in northern France ahead of what is likely to be a bunch finish, where Matthews should have the chance to pick up back-to-back victories.

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