Paris-Nice stage 1

The Race to the Sun kicked off today with a 154km stage starting and ending in the small town of Houdan just outside Paris. Gorka Izagirre was at his aggressive best and got into the day's dominating break together with Damien Gaudin of Europcar. The two were given no chance by the peloton, though, and were reeled in 40 kilometres out. On the day's one and only KOM, Euskaltel's representative was eventually out-paced by his breakaway companion, and thus missed out on the opportunity to don the polkadot jersey. Once the duo were caught, another break got up the road. This group was more successful and somehow managed to hold off the hard-chasing, but nonchalant, peloton. None of the riders managed to fight for the top positions, but everyone, bar the tired Izagirre and designated sprinter Urtasun, managed to stay with the hard-chasing pack. Izagirre trailed by 54 seconds, while Urtasun was way behind, 8:20 to be precise. On the menu for the riders tomorrow is a 199km flat trek from Montfort l'Amaury to Amilly.