Paris-Nice: Sam Bennett takes stage 1 win

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Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won the opening stage of Paris-Nice with a ferocious sprint finish.

The Irishman continued his winning streak having claimed a brace of stage wins at the UAE Tour to come out on top in a bunch sprint again, beating Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo).

All the GC favourites finished in the bunch, apart from Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers), who abandoned after crashing earlier in the stage.

Bennett becomes the first Irishman since Stephen Roche in 1990 to wear the overall leader’s jersey at Paris-Nice, and he paid tribute to his Deceuninck-QuickStep team’s efforts in the finale.

“The guys did a fantastic job again. We were a little boxed in for the last 15km, and the nature of the sprint here, with the straight roads, meant it was chaotic,” Bennett said.

“The narrowing in the last 500m made it very, very tricky. We planned to get myself into position, and the boys delivered me on a wheel, rather than do a full-lead out. The guys did a great job. Michael [Mørkøv] again was just so calm. You never see him stress, and he always seems to get me there.”

After skillfully surfing wheels to follow Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Bennett found himself in the perfect position to pass the German in the finale and win by over a bike length.

"It's more difficult to do a classic leadout on such an uphill finish, so it's more about placing Sam next to the other guys, which will ride for victory, and then let the strongest man win," added Mørkøv. "He's a winning machine at the moment. He had a good win. He came out really motivated and in good shape, and he had good momentum. It's always fun to be on the winning team."

Groupama-FDJ led for most of the final few kilometres, attempting to lead out their sprinter Démare. The Frenchman was unable to hold off Bennett’s acceleration in the finishing straight, however. Démare had opened his own effort earlier than Bennett and had also bumped shoulders with Trek-Segafredo’s lead-out man Jasper Stuyven.

The result means it’s first blood to Bennett over Démare in the pair’s first meeting of the season, having been the two most impressive sprinters of 2020.

How it unfolded

The opening stage of this year’s ‘Race to the Sun’ took place in mild conditions and blue skies, with no threat of the strong winds that wreaked havoc at the beginning of last year’s race.

The route took the riders on two long laps starting and finishing in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Cyr-L'École and featured only four category-three climbs.

A bunch sprint always looked likely, and there was little enthusiasm among the riders to get into the breakaway. Fabien Doubey (Total Direct Energies) went on the attack, but was joined by no other rider, leaving him in the unenviable situation of having to spend most of the day alone out in front.

The absence of any other riders in the break did mean that there were a few bonus seconds and points in the green jersey classification at the first intermediate sprint, of which Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) and Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) took advantage.

Doubey gained a maximum lead of over five minutes, but saw his gap come down when Groupama-FDJ and Trek-Segafredo aided Deceuninck-QuickStep’s indomitable Tim Declercq in setting the pace in the peloton.

The relaxed, uneventful atmosphere was briefly interrupted at 64km to go when Oliver Naesen (AG2R-Citroën) and Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) came down in a crash towards the front of the bunch, but both appeared unharmed.

As the gap to the sole leader dipped to below one minute for the first time, Lotto Soudal woke the race up with a two-man attack from Philippe Gilbert and Stefano Oldani at 54km. Joined by Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Chris Lawless (Total Direct Energie), they caught Doubey to form a new leading group, which was reduced to four when Lawless was dropped soon afterwards.

With this new group out in front, and the riders turning into some exposed roads, the tempo increased in the peloton with GC teams like Ineos Grenadiers joining the sprinters’ teams, pegging the leaders at around 30 seconds.

Amid the increased tension, there were more crashes, with Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) the most high-profile victim. The two-time former winner initially remounted his bike and struggled on for a while before eventually abandoning the race.

Back out in front, Doubey – happy having sealed the overall lead in the mountains classification – dropped back into the peloton, which was now just 20 seconds behind. The remaining three riders did not last much longer, and the catch was made with 26.5km still to ride.

Lotto Soudal were not done yet, however, as their rider Kobe Goossens launched off the front a few minutes later. He dangled off the front for a little while, before being swallowed up 17.5km from the finish.

There was more action in the bunch as the second intermediate sprint approached, as Tiesj Benoot (Team DSM), was second overall last year, accelerated in search of bonus seconds. Matthews rode past him to take the maximum, but Benoot gained a couple by finishing second.

Things did not calm down after the sprint, as Pierre Latour (Total Direct Energie) attacked immediately afterwards, taking six riders with him. Astana-Premier Tech teammates Luis Leon Sanchez and, surprisingly, GC contender Alexandr Vlasov set off in pursuit, but the bunch brought back both them and the seven leaders with 11km to go.

More control was exercised in the peloton as the sprinters’ teams began preparing for their lead-outs. Trek-Segafredo were especially impressive, forming a long train that led for several kilometres, until Groupama-FDJ took control with 1.5km to go.

There was another crash in the final kilometre, but the top sprinters were left unscathed and able to compete for the sprint, won by the explosive Bennett.

The sprinters should have another chance to contest for a stage win tomorrow, which features a pan flat parcours finishing in Amilly.