A dream came true for Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) when he crossed the finish line to secure victory in the French champion's jersey on his very first road stage in Paris-Nice. With thy yellow jersey now firmly on his shoulders, he heralded the great teamwork throughout a hard stage with plenty of wind.

Nacer Bouhanni burst onto the scene last year with 7 individual sprint victories among which his French road race championships clearly stood out. However, a WorldTour victory eluded him, and even if he was close a number of times in the Vuelta, he entered the Paris-Nice with the firm objective to eradicate this lack in his palmares.

Incredible teamwork throughout the day turned his dreams into reality with his victory in today's first stage. With 60 km to go, he asked Jeremy Roy to join Team Europcar and Argos-Shimano in their chase of the early breakaway while his other teammates did a perfect job by keeping him near the front in a nervous bunch.

When OmegaPharma-QuickStep, Blanco and BMC caused havoc in the peloton by splitting it up in the wind and main rival Marcel Kittel ended up in the second bunch due to an untimely mechanical, Yoann Offredo took control of the peloton and drove it for several kilometers to make sure that the Kittel group would not return. Finally, his lead-out men Geoffrey Soupe and William Bonnet delivered him perfectly to the line.

A well-drilled lead-out

Bouhanni was quick to praise the strong collective effort - an effort similar to what brought him victory on the final stage of the Tour of Oman.

"Over the radio I asked Geoffrey Soupe to wait for me and move me up towards the front," Bouhanni described the hectic final kilometers. "He dropped me off in William's wheel. William did a big effort and placed me in a great position 400 meters from the finish line. I have worked with Geoffrey and William since the beginning of the season, and we found our roles in Qatar and Oman. We now know what to do, and we do not even have to speak to each other."

Bouhanni was well aware that Kittel and another possible rival, Tom Bonnen (OmegaPharma-QuickStep), had been trapped in the second bunch. This did, however, not affect his sprint.

"I knew from the radio that Kittel and Boonen were in the back," he expained. "But it did not affect me. I was very focused on m sprint and was not trying to focus of one adversary over another."

With his victory, Bouhanni took both the yellow and white jersey, and he will start out as the race leader tomorrow. To show his gratitude, he gave the lion received on the podium to Soupe who is due to become a father in the near future.

He was well aware of the significance of the victory in a prestigious race on home soil.

"I talked a lot about Paris-Nice, and I had a lot of media requests. Many expected me to win. I have won in the French tricolor jersey in my first road stage in Paris-Nice. This is my first WorldTour victory, and I am very happy and proud. It is great for my team.

Madiot: We need victories

Team director Marc Madiot was naturally pleased with the result which continues a strong start of the season for the team.

"I am very happy," Madiot stated. "I know my team is doing well, but we also need victories. This one i beautiful and will do much good to our team. Nacer is a great cyclist."

Luck was, however, not completely on the team's side. Pierrick Fedrigo was forced to abandon in the feed zone after suffering from flu since the beginning of the race, and one of the team's GC hopefuls Alexandre Geniez suffered an untimely puncture when the race split up and ended up in the second group losing all hopes of a high overall placing. The team's GC ambitions now solely lie on the shoulders of Arnole Jeannesson.

Bouhanni will defend his jersey  on tomorrow's 200,5 km second stage. It is a completely flat affair, but the final kilometer has a slight 3% average incline making it suitable to strong sprinters. With Bouhanni having proven excellent capabilities in such finals, the possibilities for another victory are great.