Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) failed to make it two in a row in the Paris-Nice but he managed to defend his overall lead. Having crashed out of the race as race leader 12 months ago, he regarded the day as a success and is now looking forward to tomorrow's high-speed sprint on the Magny-Cours motor circuit.

One year ago Nacer Bouhanni won the first road stage of Paris-Nice and enjoyed the most beautiful moment of his sporting life, only to see it all unravel 24 hours later when he crashed out of the race while wearing the leader's jersey. After winning the first stage of this year's edition, Bouhanni could not avoid fearing a repeat scenario.

Luckily, things went much better for Bouhanni this time as he defended his jersey. He may have been beaten by Moreno Hofland and John Degenkolb in the final sprint but he still leads the race with a 2-second gap over Degenkolb.

As the jersey defence was the main point for Bouhanni, he regarded the day as a success.

 "I had a slight fear thinking back on my crash last year with the yell jersey on," he said. "Many riders came to support me and wish me good luck. It was nice. It was a nice day and everything went right."

Yesterday Bouhanni crashed and hurt his knee but it didn't bother him too much in today's stage.

"In the first 100 kilometers, I felt pain in my knee but then it went off as the ride went on," he saind. In the end I was not thinking about it anymore. In any case, it was not a problem for my sprint.

"I was only a little short on strength in the last 200 metres to be able to battle it out with Degenkolb and Hofland. Maybe I should have moved a little earlier to be in the fight but I am very happy to keep the yellow jersey."

Tomorrow's stage ends on the Magny-Cours motor circuit and this inspires Bouhanni

"Now I turn my attention to tomorrow's stage which finishes on the Magny-Cours racing circuit," he said. "It will be a test for pure sprinters and it inspires me a lot. I will see how my legs are tomorrow morning but it is a very exciting prospect.

"I already rode on one on the Vuelta two years ago and it was super fast. there will be a good fight, a good show. It will really come down to the small details. It will please me to win that one."

His FDJ team took part in the chase work with Anthony Geslin and Benoit Vaugrenard but in the end the team disappeared from the front. With two protected GC riders, the team could not allow to contribute more to the pursuit.

"Our organization was clear from the start," sports director Franck Pineau said. "We have two riders, Arnold Jeannesson and Arthur Vichot, who are protected for the weekend. The others work for Nacer but we miss Geoffrey Soupe who is not able to help yet [he suffers from gastrenteritis]. Hopefully, he will get better soon."

"Our building is clear from the start, says Franck Pineau, with two runners Arnold Jeannesson (20 th in the overall standings) and Arthur Vichot (rated at the same time) that are protected for the weekend. The others work for Nacer but we lack Geoffrey Soupe was not yet able to work effectively. Hopefully it will get better soon."

You can read our stage preview here and follow our live coverage at 14.25 CET on CyclingQuotes.com/live.