Jonathan Hivert (Bretagne) took the mountains jersey in Paris-Nice when he was the first rider at the top of the climb after 3km of racing.

"I had decided to try something today because I was a bit disappointed by my performance yesterday," he said. "I saw like everybody else that there was a climb at kilometre 3. I went and nobody went behind me. I was a bit surprised that nobody chased to try and form a breakaway but afterwards Anthony (Delaplace) took his chance and it nearly ended being an even better day.

"I will try to keep the jersey a few days, especially as I'm told there are no climbs tomorrow [actually there is one, ed.]. Afterwards I have good legs and there are stages that could suit me."