Norway's Alexander Kristoff has sprinted to victory in the first stage of Paris-Nice to claim his fifth win this season, while former world champion Tom Boonen retired with a broken collarbone.
The Katusha rider edged Frenchmen Nacer Bouhanni and Bryan Coquard at the end of the 196.5-kilometre stage from Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse to Contres that was marred by Boonen's crash.
The one-day classic specialist hit the ground heavily about 17 kilometres from the finish after colliding with another rider.
Boonen withdrew from the race and his upcoming classics campaign could be in jeopardy.
"It's my first stage win on the Paris-Nice so it's another step forward because I've tried three times before," Kristoff said.
"When we reached the last 700 metres I was the only one left on my team and I managed to get behind the wheel of (John) Degenkolb and Bouhanni, who was in a pretty good position.
"I knew I had to hold them off, as well as Bryan Coquard, so I didn't know I'd won right away when I crossed the line."
Sunday's prologue winner, Michal Kwiatkowski, retained the race leader's yellow jersey, finishing as part of the main group along with Australians Heinrich Haussler and Michael Matthews with an equal time to Kristoff.
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