Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) wins stage 1 of Paris-Nice 2025(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tim Merlier in the yellow jersey of race leader(Image credit: Getty Images)
Magnus Sheffield in the best young rider's jersey(Image credit: Getty Images)
Alexandre Delettre of TotalEnergies leads the mountains classification(Image credit: Getty Images)
Samuel Fernandez Garcia (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) was awarded the most combative rider prize(Image credit: Getty Images)
Team Visma-Lease a Bike keeping Jonas Vingegaard in position(Image credit: Getty Images)
Julian Alaphilippe in his new Tudor colours(Image credit: Getty Images)
The peloton during stage 1(Image credit: Getty Images)
The woods are still bare in France on stage 1 of Paris-Nice(Image credit: Getty Images)
Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies), Taco Van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty) and Samuel Fernandez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) in the breakaway(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paris-Nice stage 1(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jonas Vingegaard sporting a special helmet (Image credit: Getty Images)
Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard before stage 1(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jonas Vingegaard with special helmet and glasses(Image credit: Getty Images)
Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard before stage 1(Image credit: Getty Images)
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) continued his flying start to the season with victory on the opening day of Paris-Nice, dominating the stage 1 sprint in Le Perray-en-Yvelines to take the first yellow jersey.
Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) took second but was well-beaten by Merlier, who celebrated his fifth victory of 2025, with Alberto Dainese (Tudor) sprinting to third place.
It was far from a simple finish for Merlier and the sprinters to navigate with the final 20 kilometres seeing several attacks launched over undulating terrain. However, the last group that escaped up the road with Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), Matteo Trentin (Tudor) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) present could only make it to the 2.4km to go mark.
With that trio reeled in, a messy lead-out began with no team taking authority after the crucial final right-hand corner with 700 metres remaining. Merlier wasn't directly on his lead-out man, Bert Van Lerberghe's wheel, but he was still in striking distance, and when he opened up on the left-hand side of the road, no one could match his brutal top speed.
"It's always nice to start a stage race and again take victory in Paris-Nice. I'm very proud of it," said Merlier post-race before highlighting the tricky finale to the stage after the break was reeled in early.
"I think from 70km to go, Visma started to make the bunch really nervous and there was some attacking from Julian [Alaphilippe] and on the second climb for the bonifications, so the bunch was really nervous. "We organised it again, the others closed the gap, and the team brought me in a good spot last kilometre, then Bert did a perfect lead-out."
How it unfolded
One of the most iconic stage races on the calendar, Paris-Nice, kicked off for its 83rd edition from Le Perray-en-Yvelines, 50km southwest of France's capital city, with 156.1km and a likely sprint finish in store.
It didn't take long for the break of the day to form, with Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies) and Samuel Fernández (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) attacking away just 2km after the neutral start finished.
They were joined by breakaway specialist Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty), who countered to make it a trio in front. Quickly, they had established more than a two-minute lead.
With the two big favourites for the day, Merlier and Mads Pedersen, Soudal-QuickStep and Lidl-Trek came to the front of the peloton to ensure the gap didn't get out of control.
The gap was kept so tight that Van der Hoorn pulled the pin on his effort, knowing the break had chance. He was reabsorbed into the bunch with 60km to go, with his two fellow escapees only lasting 10km longer until they were also caught.
With no one to chase, the peloton was nervous for the next 35km and the remainder of the day, resulting in a minor crash for three Ineos Grenadiers riders, who quickly returned to the peloton.
The nerves ramped up again at the next crucial moment with 25km to go, when a crucial left turn into the foot of the final categorised climb - Côte de Villiers-Saint-Frédéric (1.2 km at 6.8%) - sparked an all-out sprint from the GC teams to stay in prime position.
Visma-Lease a Bike led the peloton and were well placed when Julian Alaphilipped (Tudor) launched the first attack. Matteo Jorgenson followed for the Dutch team and kept the former two-time world champion at bay. However, the attacks were far from over.
There were more attacks as the strung-out bunch raced towards Les Mesnuls, where bonus seconds were available. Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) blinked first, launching out of the peloton with Jorgenson again following.
The Visma rider was closely marked by two American compatriots, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), however the bonuses were decided in a final sprint.
Jorgenson was unable to hold off a charging Jhonatan Narváez who took the maximum six seconds for UAE, with four going to the American and the final two going to Ineos Grenadiers' Magnus Sheffield.
Without a sprinter, Ineos were keen to split things and attacked first with Tobias Foss and then Tarling in the final 7km. The Welshman has Trentin for company and Skjelmose bridged across for Lidl-Trek, who had been marking several moves for their sprinter, Mads Pedersen.
Visma, Soudal-QuickStep and Arkéa all worked to bring them back, catching the trio inside the final 2.5 kilometres. Then full focus turned to the sprint, where Merlier was easily the fastest and exploded away from the opposition to open Paris-Nice with a bang.
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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Stage 1 kicks off with a 156.1km hilly, technical route in which the sprinters will struggle to contain the breakaways on the roads to Le Perray-en-Yvelines
