Démare was the first to launch his move in Bourg-de-Péage after 199 kilometres of racing. Groenewegen overtook the Frenchman to lead the sprint with 200 metres to go before losing ground and allowing Démare to pull even again, but neither could match the powerful kick of Greipel surging past on their right.
The German powered away with 100 metres to go to nab the clear win. "It's always nice to win a stage in Paris-Nice, it's the second time now, and it's an important race as well with all good sprinters. It was a goal to win a stage and to be in front with [Tony] Gallopin for the GC, and for the moment it looks quite good," Greipel said after the victory. "The last seven or eight kilometres were quite tricky with a block headwind. It was not easy to stay up in front. You had to do the right thing in the right moment and I could manage to do so with the whole team to keep me up in front. At the end it was all the sprinters against each other. It was not a real lead out anymore with a block headwind and I think I managed to wait as long as possible and could do my sprint to the line. It was good timing, I'm happy about it."
First ten stage 5 finishers
André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 4:43:35 2 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 3 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 5 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 6 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Orica-Scott 7 Marcel Kittel (Ger) Quick-Step Floors 8 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Direct Energie 9 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 10 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
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