After a second place in Volta ao Algarve, Rui Costa was the designated leader of the Movistar team at this year's Paris-Nice. A crash in today's first stage forced him to abandon before he had the possibility to test himself in the mountains. Fortunately, he escaped any fractures.

A strong 15th place in the short, technical opening prologue had Rui Costa out as a really strong contender for overall victory in this year's edition of the Paris-Nice. As a consequence, the disappointment was visible in the Movistar camp when a crash with just under 70 km to go in the first stage left him with no other choice than to abandon the race.

He initially attempted to get back to peloton, but the pain became too much, and he was brought to a medical center in Fontainebleau. Medical checks fortunately ruled out the feared fracture to his left wrist, and he could return to the team hotel with several stitches. He will fly back to Portugal this evening. With no fracture, he may be able to avoid changes to his race calendar which sees him next line up in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco in April before he will attack the Ardennes classics and the Tour de Romandie.

More bad luck stroke the team during the stage. Strong domestique Imanol Erviti was caught up in the same crash as Costa, but he was able to finish the stage and should start again tomorrow. Furthermore, Javier Moreno who was second in the Tour Down Under in January, missed all chances for a GC result when he was caught in the second peloton as the bunch split up due to the strong wind.

The team's sprinter Jose Joaquin Rojas was the day's positive story as he sprinted to a fine 7th place behind winner Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ). In addition, the team must be encouraged by the fact that the team's new GC leader, Nairo Quintana, defied expectations and stayed in the first group when OmegaPharma-QuickStep, BMC and Blanco created chaos with their accelerations in the crosswind.

The team will try to keep Quintana safe on tomorrow's second stage while also looking for another strong finish from Rojas in the expected bunch sprint.