Arnaud Demare (FDJ) wins opening stage one Paris Nice tour in Meudon, France.

Arnaud Démare (FDJ) pips Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) to claimed opening stage one victory of 2018 Paris-Nice in a toughest closest photo finish seen so far in this season.

 The Frenchman, who won the opening stage last year and the opening road stage two years ago, made it a hat trick as he edged out  Izaguirre on the narrow cobbled drag to the line.

 The French champion earned a 10 second time bonus, and leads Izagirre in the general classification by four seconds over the Basque rider, with Laporte at six seconds.

 Top Ten General Classification

 1, Arnaud Demare (France) Groupama-FDJ 3:07:29,
2, Gorka Izagirre (Spain) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:04,
3, Christophe Laporte (France) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:06,  
4, Tim Wellens (Belgium) Lotto Soudal 0:00:10,
 5, Mike Teunissen (Netherland) Team Sunweb,
 6, Julian Alaphilippe (France) Quick-Step Floors,  
7, Patrick Konrad (Autria) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:12,
 8, Dylan Teuns (Belgium) BMC Racing Team ,  
9, Matteo Trentin (Ita) Mitchelton-Scott,
10, Ion Izagirre (Spain) Bahrain-Merida