Paris - Nice 2018: Stage 1

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January 1 - March 11, Chatou, France, Road - WorldTour

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Full live coverage of the opening stage of the 2018 Paris-Nice.

 

Good morning and welcome to the Cyclingnews live race centre for the start of the 2018 edition of Paris-Nice. 

The opening stage is largely flat but there's a sting in the tail in the form of a 1.9km cobbled climb to the line in Meudon. One for the puncheurs. 

The riders have rolled out of the start town of Chatou and are just making their way through the neutralised zone. The race proper will be underway in a few moments.

La course commence aujourd'hui, mais pour le soleil, ce sera un peu plus tard 

The riders have passed KM0 and the race is underway. 

Now's probably a good time to have a read of Zeb Woodpower's race preview. 

A breakaway of three riders has gone up the road.

The three riders out front are:

Rolland, Perichon and Roelandts have opened up a lead of 2:30 as Quick-Step and FDJ come to the front of the peloton to police things.

Julian Alaphilippe is many people's pick for today's stage. He and Elia Viviani are leading the line for Quick-Step this week, with the in-form Viviani set for sprint opportunities on Monday and Tuesday. You can read about the team's plans here:

105km remaining from 135km

Roelandts took maximum points - and three bonus seconds - at that intermediate sprint, followed by Rolland and Perichon.

The leaders covered 43.8km in the first hour of racing.

The rain continues to fall but, mercifully for the riders, it's not so windy out there. 

86km remaining from 135km

'El Tractor' is the big Belgian powerhouse Tim Declercq, a nickname created by an Argentinean broadcaster commentating on the Vuelta a San Juan, where Declercq was doing endless kilometres on the front of the peloton. Incidentally, Quick-Step also have 'John Deere' here at Paris-Nice - that's Yves Lampaerts, who grew up on a farm. 

A quick glance at the map tells us we'll soon be turning up north and back towards Paris. Gone are the days when they'd plot a pretty direct route from Paris to Nice. They'll make up for it with extra-long post-stage transfers. 

Joining Quick-Step at the head of the peloton are FDJ. Or, as we can now call them, Groupama-FDJ. 

67km remaining from 135km

Over in Italy, Maciej Mohoric has just won the GP Industria & Artigianato

62km remaining from 135km

The rain eases up but the roads are still wet. 

We're approaching the first of the three categorised climbs on today's route. It's the Côte des 17 Tournants, of Tour de France game. As the name suggests, there are 17 corners packed in to 1.3km as the road twists up at a gradient of 6%. 

Perichon reaches out for the points at the top of the climb, followed by Rolland and Roelandts. 

52km remaining from 135km

After a short dip downhill it's almost immediately onto another third-category climb. It's the Côte de Méridon and it's 1.4km at 5.2%.

Perichon once again hits out early on this second climb. He eases up slightly but soon goes again for real and Rolland and Roelandts have no response. 

Results from GP Industria e Artigianato

45km remaining from 135km

38km remaining from 135km

Here's a look at the finish. The steepest section is early on and the final kilometre is a steady drag to the line. Alaphilippe is the obvious candidate but it could also suit the more versatile sprinters who can maintain power. Arnaud Demare, Matteo Trentin, John Degenkolb, and Alexander Kristoff could all figure.

Tension in the peloton as the wind picks up and Mitchelton-Scott increase the pace. A few riders are in trouble at the back for a moment, and the tension sparks a crash involving Tejay van Garderen.

33km remaining from 135km

Tejay van Garderen abandons Paris-Nice

The crash didn't look too serious but Van Garderen has left the race. That's a big blow for him and BMC Racing, as he came into the race as team leader and on the back of a podium at the Volta ao Algarve. 

24km remaining from 135km

A nice shot of the breakaway trio from the race organisers. 

The three leaders take a look around and can see the peloton just behind now. 15 seconds is the gap with 20km to go and they exchange some words as they prepared to be caught. 

The peloton aren't advancing rapidly, however. The pace is really sedate for the time being. 

Astana start to move up on the right hand side of the road. They have Jakob Fuglsang here for GC, while Magnus Cort Nielsen could be in the mix today. 

14km remaining from 135km

Mitchelton-Scott have set up on the left hand side of the road, while it's Lotto Soudal on the right. They have Andre Greipel and Tim Wellens here. 

10km remaining from 135km

Quick-Step and FDJ, who have done the lion's share of the work today, aren't up there near the front of the bunch. 

There's more road furniture here as the riders come into down. Combined with the sodden roads it's making for a slightly messy approach to this final climb.

A reminder of what we've got coming up

7km remaining from 135km

Greipel is on the front for Lotto Soudal. 

5km remaining from 135km

Lotto Soudal continue to dominate the approach to the climb. 

This finish could suit the punchier sprinters but the GC men will also have to be careful not to lose time here. 

Big crash in the middle of the bunch. 10 riders down. 

No one looks hurt but that was a heavy, high-speed crash. 

2km remaining from 135km

Sinkeldam hits the front for FDJ and Demare.

Alexis Vuillermoz attacks

Vuillermoz has a gap but FDJ remain calm and lead a steady chase. 

The group is strung out and vastly reduced now, thanks to the gradients and that crash.

The peloton is bunched up as Vuillermoz enjoys a handy advantage. 

1km remaining from 135km

Vuillermoz hits the cobbles with a lead of around 10 seconds. 

Bahrain take it up. 

It's Ivan Garcia Cortina for Bahrain. The group is still bunched. Demare and Alaphilippe both there. 

This is a cruel long drag. Vuillermoz is going to be caught. 

Demare opens his sprint. 

Haussler goes now

But Demare's coming back, and Wellens too!

Photo finish!

I think it's Haussler...

There's no confirmed winner yet as the judges review the side-on images. 

We've had some faulty information there. It's Gorka Izaguirre for Bahrain-Merida - not Haussler.

Arnaud Demare wins stage 1 of Paris-Nice

The French champion is confirmed as the winner of the opening stage of Paris-Nice, as was the case 12 months ago. 

Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) was third, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) fourth, Mike Teunissen (Sunweb) fifth, and Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) sixth. 

Top 10

General classification after stage 1

Here's our report page

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