France's Nacer Bouhanni wins first stage of Paris-Nice race

FRENCH cycling champion Nacer Bouhanni has won the opening stage of the Paris-Nice tour, taking the 195km race from Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Nemours.

Nacer-Bouhanni

FRENCH cycling champion Nacer Bouhanni has won the opening stage of the Paris-Nice tour, taking the 195km race from Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Nemours in a sprint finish.

The 22-year-old, , riding for FDJ, won a frantic race to the line and edged out Italian duo Alessandro Petacchi and Elia Viviani as he also took the overall leader's yellow jersey.

Australian cyclists fared well in the opening stage with Heinrich Haussler of IAM Cycling finishing fifth in a blanket sprint finish.

Mark Renshaw, riding with Blanco Pro Cycling, was sixth and Leigh Howard of Orica Greenedge was eighth.

No Australians, however, feature in the top 10 on the overall standings after one of seven stages.

Frenchman Daniel Gaudin who won Sunday's prologue relinquishes the race lead after Bouhanni picked up a 10-second bonus for winning the stage and is classified above Viviani after bettering the Italian by .18sec in the opening time-trial.

"The team did a great job for me," beamed Bouhanni, who also picked up a stage win on the Tour of Oman earlier this season.

"I am still young and taking part in only my third season as a professional but I think I have grown in experience as well as strategy in the sprints and increasing my power," he added.

"I feel I have improved in the short climbs over two or three kilometres which allows me to arrive fresher at the finish.

"I was concentrated on my sprint and didn't tell myself to take the wheel of anyone in particular."

Tonight's second stage is a 200.5km ride from Vimory to Cerilly with a relatively flat finish that will likely feature another .