Caleb Ewan pipped by Dylan Groenewegen in Paris-Nice opener

Dylan Groenewegen outsprinted Australian Caleb Ewan to win the opening stage of Paris-Nice.

Dylan Groenewegen, right, outsprints Caleb Ewan, left, to the line in the opening stage of the Paris-Nice race in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Picture: Getty Images

Dylan Groenewegen outsprinted Australian Caleb Ewan to win the opening stage of Paris-Nice on a windswept Sunday in the outskirts of Paris.

The race, an eight-stage run to the Mediterranean sun, opened with a 138.5km circuit that began and ended in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in winds so strong they shattered the peloton.

Groenewegen, a Dutchman who won two stages on last year’s Tour de France, was among a group of 60 riders who benefited from the weather to break away.

“It was a very windy day, we had to stay ahead and, for that, there was a great team work,” Groenewegen said. “I knew the last two kilometres well, it helped me.

The winner of last year’s race, Spaniard Marc Soler, was not so lucky. The Movistar rider finished in the second group just over a minute behind.

Another Australian, Michael Matthews, the leader of the Sunweb team, crashed badly after 50km and had to drop out.

Sprinting into a headwind at the finish, Groenewegen, who rides for Jumbo, held off Ewan, of the Belgian Lotto team, with another Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quickstep) third.

“On this Paris-Nice, there are a lot of good sprinters,” Groenewegen said. “It gives me pride to beat them even if I have already done it at the Tour de France.”

Groenewegen, 25, picked up a 10-second bonus to take the overall lead ahead of Evans and Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski of Team Sky, who snapped up five seconds in intermediate sprints.

Stage two, a long 163.5km run south to Bellegarde, should favour the sprinters.

AFP