Arnaud Demare takes Paris-Nice first stage in dramatic finish

Demare, who won the opening stage 12 months ago, was part of a group of late sprinters who pushed through to overtake Gorka Izagirre and Alexis Vuillermoz.

The latter had been the leader late on but he was overtaken by Izagirre, who attacked on the uphill, cobbled finish.

It looked as if the Basque climber, an unlikely sprint victor, was going to take it before Demare, Christophe Laporte and Tim Wellens pushed him hard.

The four finished with hardly anything separating them and initially it was Izagirre who was celebrating.

However race officials gave the victory to Demare by the slimmest of margins and it is he who now leads the general classification.