Norway's Alexander Kristoff won a sprint finish to the first stage of Paris-Nice at Contres on Monday, but the overall lead stayed with Polish world champion Michal Kwiatkowski.
Kristoff held off French duo Nacer Bouhanni and Bryan Coquard at the climax to a 196.5 kilometres stage from Maurepas to the west of Paris.
The day was marked by a breakaway by two other Frenchmen - Thomas Voeckler and Anthony Delaplace - after 40 kilometres.
At one stage they were six minutes clear, but gradually the peloton whittled this away and they were eventually reeled in with 1.5 kilometres to go.
Tuesday's action also involves a flat terrain leading from the ZooParc at Beauval to Saint-Amand-Montrond in central France, a stage of 172 kilometres.
Source: AFP