Bouhanni wins stage 1 of Paris-Nice

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Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) claimed a fraught opening stage of this year’s Paris-Nice ahead of John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) and Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

The French rider struck for home inside the final 200 meters to take a comprehensive win and the first yellow jersey in this year’s race. The stage saw several crashes with Bouhanni himself coming down in one of the earlier falls, but the biggest casualty of the day was perhaps Tejay van Garderen (Team BMC) who retired during the stage through illness.

The riders began under beautiful conditions in Mantes-la-Jolie with Christophe Laborie (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) slipping clear in the opening stages. The Frenchman attacked from the gun and was allowed to build up a lead of over ten minutes. After 70 kilometres of racing the lone leader had lost some of his advantage, with the gap down to seven minutes.

Back in the bunch and Bouhanni was one of the first riders to fall. Although he was quickly back on his bike it was a sign of things to come for the rest of the day’s action. The Frenchman had crashed out of last year’s race while leading and despite what looked like a damaged right knee he was given the all clear from the race doctor.

Vasil Kiryienka (Sky), Mattia Cattaneo and Jose Serpa, the latter both Lampre-Merida, were the next riders to hit the tarmac, with Alessandro Vanotti (Astana) going down soon after.

Although Laborie was doing enough to claim the first KOM jersey of the race he could do little as Lampre-Merida and Europcar whittled down his lead to three minutes. With 50 kilometres remaining the solo Frenchman was back with the bunch.

The most significant fall of the day saw Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing), Simon Gerrans (Orica GreenEdge), Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), and Thor Hushovd (BMC Racing) losing ground and time on the main race favourites.

At the head of affairs Belkin, Omega Pharma-QuickStep and Giant-Shimano vied for control of the peloton. Giant-Shimano looked to have the measure of everyone as they hit the front with less than two kilometres to go but Degenkolb found himself caught up in the wheels and was forced to come around a number of riders before he could unleash his sprint.

It allowed Meersman to open up proceedings but the Omega sprinter went too soon, with Bouhanni timing his sprint to the line to perfection.