Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe has won the second stage of the Tour de France, a 186km mountain ride around Nice, to take the overall leader's yellow jersey.
Alaphilippe edged Swiss Marc Hirschi by half a wheel, with Briton Adam Yates - Mitchelton-Scott teammate of Kiwis Jack Bauer and Sam Bewley - finished third.
The 28-year-old took the yellow jersey off Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, who won the opening stage.
Alaphilippe, who last year wore the coveted jersey for 14 days, kept his cool to prevail in a three-man sprint, with the peloton was breathing down their neck.
"It's always special to be in yellow and I will defend the jersey, but I didn't come here to win the Tour de France,"says Alaphilippe.
"I've been feeling better and better lately, and I really wanted to take a stage win here. It means a lot me and I had promised I would win on the Tour this year for my father, who died a couple of months ago."
Colombian dark horse Dani Martinez lost time, after cracking in the last climb of the day, shortly after crashing in a descent.
The three New Zealanders in the race all finished down the field, with George Bennett the best placed in 41st, 1m 16s behind Alaphilippe. He did enough to keep Jumbo-Visma teammates Primož Roglič and Tom Dumoulin within 17 seconds of the overall race lead.
Stage three sees the race travel 198km from Nice to Sisteron.
Reuters
