The Irish Sam Bennett (Deceuninck) won the first stage of the Paris-Nice (Saint Cyr L'Ecole-Saint Cry L'Ecole, 166 km) beating the Frenchman Arnaud Démare by a wide margin in the sprint.
Third at the finish is the 2019 world champion, Mads Pedersen.
For Bennett this is the third victory of the season after the two obtained at the UAE Tour.
The race, which will end next Sunday, saw the premature retirement of Australian Richie Porte, winner of the 2013 and 2015 editions, who fell disastrously to about thirty kilometers from the finish.
First of the Italians is Matteo Trentin, 15 / o.
