Moreno Hofland had to make use of his off-road skills to handle the hectic and nervous finale of the opening day of Paris-Nice. The Belkin rider had hoped to score a top result after finishing 2nd in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne but had to leave the stage empty-handed.

The Belkin Pro Cycling Team rode strongly on the opening stage of Paris-Nice, a 162.5km series of circuits starting and finishing in the northern French town of Mantes-La-Jolie, as a serie of crashes split the peloton in the final 25 kilometres. In a stage that looked relatively easy on paper, and in perfect weather, the race took on an unexpected twist as many of the top men were caught out in falls along the way.

Despite the nervous start to the race, with nearly all the team finishing in the front group Sports Director Jan Boven had reason to be happy with his men's performance on the opening day.

"We made a plan in the morning as always and it worked well for us today, we avoided the crashes and I'm pleased with the way the team rode today. It's always the same on the first days of Paris-Nice, everyone is nervous and it's even worse on a circuit course like today, the final 2 laps were very difficult. We took control maybe a little bit too far out in the run to the finish and couldn't quite bring Moreno Hofland to the line. But it was really good to have the team safe."

The only Belkin rider to miss the split was Frenchman Jonathan Hivert but as Boven explained he too avoided the crashes.

"Jonathan was a bit unlucky as he had a mechanical problem with his bike immediately before the last crash of the day. Thankfully he wasn't involved but he did get caught behind it and lost some time at the finish."

With Moreno Hofland the man for the sprint, the Belkin train found themselves on the front a little early and dropped back to allow other teams to take up the work in the last 3 km but with 1.5km to go Hofland found himself swapping his on road skills for off road.

"It was so nervous, maybe if there had been a little more wind it would have been easier! Everyone was trying to be in the front of the race and when we came to the last roundabout the peloton just seemed to stop right in front of me and I was forced to go straight over the middle on the grass like a cyclo-cross rider. When I got to the other side I was already quite a way back and the front of the race was going at 60kph, after that the sprint was over for me."

But Hofland, whose early season form has brought him to Paris-Nice in great shape, feels that tomorrow will be a better day for the team.

"It's pretty straight tomorrow. We might get a tail wind so it shouldn't be so nervous. Looking at the finish it seems to be slightly uphill which suits me well."

The Belkin Pro Cycling Team goes into stage 2 of the race, 205km due south from Rambouillet to Georges-Baulche, in good shape with overall contender Wilco Kelderman not losing any time today.