"A slow start, but fast to the finish. With me and Luis close in the GC we can play some games in the next days."

Those were the words of Lars Boom after finishing fifth in the opening prologue at Paris-Nice - a short, mostly flat individual time trial around the Parisian suburb of Maurepas.

Boom, who won a Paris-Nice prologue in 2007, finished less than one second slower than teammate Luis Leon Sanchez, giving Astana Pro Team two riders in the Top-10.

Jakob Fuglsang finished just under 30 seconds behind stagewinner Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland. Fabio Aru was another five seconds back.

Paris-Nice races south every day until the peloton reaches the Mediterranean coast, but on the way will cross more than 1000km of France, including two difficult days in the Maritime Alps and a final-day uphill time trial from Nice to nearby Col d'Eze.