Sheffield takes white jersey in Paris-Nice opener

Magnus Sheffield moved into the white jersey following the opening day at Paris-Nice.

The American was able to take two bonus seconds at the final intermediate sprint of stage one, elevating himself to sixth place overall and into the jersey.

Sheffield was helped by some great lead-out work from Josh Tarling on the approach to the final climb, with Tarling also helping to shut down an initial acceleration before the bonus seconds were eventually contested.

Tobias Foss kept the pace high over the top, before Tarling again hit the front, launching a move on the flat with seven kilometres to go.

Joined by Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling) and a non-contributing Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), the trio opened out a tantalising gap of around 10 seconds, but would ultimately be reeled in with 2.3km remaining.

Tim Merlier (Soudal - Quick-Step) won the bunch kick to open up the race, with Sheffield now sitting eight seconds back on the first yellow jersey holder.