Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) pulled on the first yellow jersey of the 2015 Paris-Nice with narrow victory in the prologue.
Kwiatkowski, Polish champion against the clock, completed the 6.7km Maurepas course just milliseconds faster than hour record holder Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) – both men recording a time of 7:40 minutes.
Dennis’ time looked set to be enough to end his long search – hour record aside – for a win against the clock, with the Australian spending close to two hours watching riders try, and fail, to match his time.
But Kwiatkowski had other ideas, consigning Dennis to his seventh second place time trial finish since January last year.
The first man onto the course was Great Britain’s Dan McLay (Bretagne-Seche Environnement), kicking off his first ever WorldTour race with a time of 8:40.
Tour of Britain winner Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale-Garmin) was the early pace-setter, with his time of 8:04 out of reach for the likes of Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) and Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEDGE).
Dennis was the first man under the eight-minute mark, obliterating van Baarle’s mark and earning a long stint in the leader’s chair.
Richie Porte (Team Sky), who beat Dennis to the Australian national time trial champion, was 15 seconds off the pace and even three-time former world champion Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) faded to finish seven seconds slower.
Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) went one second quicker than Porte to post Team Sky’s fastest time to place him tenth overall, before team-mate Sir Bradley Wiggins took to the course in the rainbow skinsuit of world time trial champion, but the 34-year-old’s time was only eventually good enough for 12th.
It was the world road race champion, Kwiatkowski, who stole the headlines, however, doing just enough to oust Dennis from the lead by the smallest of margins.
Paris-Nice 2015: prologue – result
1) Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) – Etixx-QuickStep – 7.40
2) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – BMC Racing – ST
3) Tony Martin (GER) – Etixx-QuickStep +7”
4) Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP) – Astana +10”
5) Lars Boom (NED) – Astana – ST
6) John Degenkolb (GER) – Giant-Alpecin
7) Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) – IAM Cycling
8) Michael Matthews (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE +12”
9) Tom Dumoulin (NED) – Giant-Alpecin +13”
10) Geraint Thomas (GBR) – Team Sky +14”
Selected others
12) Sir Bradley Wiggins (GBR) – Team Sky +15”
13) Richie Porte (AUS) – Team Sky – ST
Paris-Nice 2015: general classification
1) Michal Kwiatkowski (POL) – Etixx-QuickStep – 7.40
2) Rohan Dennis (AUS) – BMC Racing – ST
3) Tony Martin (GER) – Etixx-QuickStep +7”
4) Luis Leon Sanchez (ESP) – Astana +10”
5) Lars Boom (NED) – Astana – ST
6) John Degenkolb (GER) – Giant-Alpecin
7) Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) – IAM Cycling
8) Michael Matthews (AUS) – Orica-GreenEDGE +12”
9) Tom Dumoulin (NED) – Giant-Alpecin +13”
10) Geraint Thomas (GBR) – Team Sky +14”
