Bryan Coquard got close to his first WorldTour win when he finished third in stage 1 of Paris-Nice.

"I'm disappointed because I'm a winner," he told L'Equipe. "Third is not so bad though, this is my best result at this level (WorldTour). Yohann Gene brought me into a very good position. With 1km to go, I was not far from Kristoff's wheel. I was in the wind a bit but you need a little luck. It was a fierce sprint. I did not miss much, but all sprinters agree that Kristoff was superior. I feel that I have a chance to win.

"I've raced with Yohann in the Tour de France. This is the first time we're all together, we must get our automatisms back. The good thing is my condition. I had a difficult finish in Kuurne and Samyn, but in the last eight days I did ​​a good block of work. I had two weeks of adaptation after the track (he was Madison world champion with Morgan Kneisky)."