Reigning world road champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) narrowly finished second to Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in Saturday's sprint to the finish along the seaside boulevard in Nice on the penultimate stage of Paris-Nice.

Gilbert had all of his teammates to help him – save for Brent Bookwalter, who had spent most of the 220 km stage representing the BMC Racing Team in the day's breakaway of 11 riders that was reeled in with 40 km to go.

"Dominik Nerz and Daniel Oss did a very big job, but we were missing one guy in the finale, so I did a very long sprint – about 300 meters," Gilbert said. "To hold this effort is not easy. It's a big disappointment because losing by such a close margin is never good."

Gilbert's runner-up placing was his best result of the season that also includes a third-place finish on Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under. Jose Rojas (Movistar Team) finished third as Richie Porte (Sky Procycling) kept the overall lead. Nine riders, including BMC Racing Team's Tejay van Garderen (in sixth overall), are within a minute of Porte with only Sunday's 9.6 km individual time trial to go.