Young Frenchman Damien Gaudin (Team Europcar) burst onto the scene with a surprising victory in the opening prologue of the Paris-Nice today. He beat experienced time trial experts Sylvain Chavanel (OmegaPharma-QuickStep) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) to take the first leader's jersey of the European WorldTour opener.

Known as a strong time triallist with potential as a cobbled classics contender, Damien Gaudin has spent a quiet first 5 years of his professional career at Team Europcar and its predecessor Bouygues Telecom. Even if he had been close on a number of occasions, he had failed to win a single race. Hence, few had put him down as a pre-race favorite when the Paris-Nice today kicked off with a 2.9 km prologue in Houilles near the French capital.

As a consequence, a number of eyebrows were raised when Gaudin powered over the finish line just under  a minute after French time trial champion Sylvain Chavanel had taken the best time from young talent Wilco Kelderman (Blanco) towards the end of the competition. The 26 year old Europcar rider beat his more famous countryman into the provisional second place, and many sensed that a surprise was in store.

That surprise turned into reality 16 minutes later when the last rider on course, Richie Porte (Team Sky), like all other participants failed to beat the time posted by Gaudin. The former winner of the U23 Paris-Roubaix not only took his first victory as a professional, he also secured the season's first leader's jersey in a European WorldTour race.

At just 2,9 km, the prologue was an extremely technical affair with plenty of corners. With such a short distance, most people expected a fight between sprinters and time triallists with strong accelerations and good bike handling skills.

These predictions proved to be right as the final top 10 contained a mixture of fast finishers and specialists against the clock. Time trial experts like Gaudin, Chavanel, Kelderman, Lieuwe Westra, Peter Velits (OmegaPharma-QuickStep) and Andriy Grivko (Astana) were challenged by fast men Geoffrey Soupe (FDJ), Tony Gallopin (Radioshack-Leopard), Borut Bozic (Astana) and Sebastien Turgot (Team Europcar) in a thrilling and unpredictable affair.

Among the contenders for overall victory in the race, Chavanel and Westra capitalized on their strength to obtain a very favorable position. With a 15th and 19th place respectively, Rui Costa (Movistar) and Robert Gesink (Blanco) beat a number of their challengers on a course not suited to their characteristics, and they must be highly encouraged by their strong start. Finally, small Colombian climber Nairo Quintana (Movistar) exceeded many expectations by not being blown away, and his 89th place only 12 seconds behind Gaudin marks him out as a possible contender when the race hits the mountains towards the end of next week.

Damien Gaudin will try to defend his jersey when the race continues with 195 almost completely flat kilometers between Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Nemours. Sun and light wind are predicted, and so the riders are in no need to fear the terrible weather conditions which have often caused havoc in the opening stages of the race. With a number of sprinters close to the leader's jersey, the bonus seconds on the finish line may turn Gaudin's defense into a difficult task.

Prologue result and GC

1 Damien Gaudin - Team Europcar 3.37
2 Sylvain Chavanel - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team 0.01
3 Lieuwe Westra - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
4 Wilco Kelderman - Team Blanco 0.02
5 Geoffrey Soupe - FDJ
6 Peter Velits - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team 0.03
7 Tony Gallopin - RadioShack Leopard
8 Borut Bozic - Astana Pro Team
9 Sébastien Turgot - Team Europcar 0.04
10 Andriy Grivko - Astana Pro Team 0.05
11 Elia Viviani - Cannondale
12 Jesus Herrada Lopez - Movistar Team
13 Nikolas Maes - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
14 Cyril Lemoine - Sojasun
15 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa - Movistar Team 0.06
16 William Bonnet - FDJ
17 Gianni Meersman - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
18 Alexander Kristoff - Team Katusha
19 Robert Gesink - Team Blanco
20 Gatis Smukulis - Team Katusha 0.07
21 Maarten Tjallingii - Team Blanco
22 Thomas De Gendt - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
23 Michael Matthews - Orica GreenEdge
24 Tom Boonen - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
25 Jonathan Hivert - Sojasun
26 Michael Albasini - Orica GreenEdge 0.08
27 Ruben Plaza Molina - Movistar Team
28 Grégory Rast - RadioShack Leopard
29 Martijn Keizer - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
30 Jérôme Pineau - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
31 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil - Movistar Team
32 Alessandro Petacchi - Lampre-Merida
33 Nicki Sörensen - Team Saxo-Tinkoff
34 Philippe Gilbert - BMC Racing Team
35 Jean-Christophe Peraud - AG2R La Mondiale
36 Xavier Florencio Cabre - Team Katusha
37 Jérémy Roy - FDJ
38 Mark Renshaw - Team Blanco
39 Richie Porte - Sky Procycling 0.09
40 Jens Keukeleire - Orica GreenEdge
41 Baden Cooke - Orica GreenEdge
42 Imanol Erviti Ollo - Movistar Team
43 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios - Movistar Team
44 Simon Gerrans - Orica GreenEdge
45 Rick Flens - Team Blanco
46 Heinrich Haussler - IAM Cycling
47 Yoann Offredo - FDJ
48 Marcel Kittel - Team Argos-Shimano
49 Jens Debusschere - Lotto Belisol
50 Alexis Vuillermoz - Sojasun 0.10
51 Bart De Clercq - Lotto Belisol
52 Mads Christensen - Team Saxo-Tinkoff
53 Nacer Bouhanni - FDJ
54 Ruben Perez Moreno - Euskaltel-Euskadi
55 Kris Boeckmans - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
56 Enrico Gasparotto - Astana Pro Team
57 Alexandre Geniez - FDJ
58 Daniele Ratto - Cannondale 0.11
59 Tejay van Garderen - BMC Racing Team
60 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti - Euskaltel-Euskadi
61 Samuel Dumoulin - AG2R La Mondiale
62 Matti Breschel - Team Saxo-Tinkoff
63 Xabier Zandio Echaide - Sky Procycling
64 Maxime Bouet - AG2R La Mondiale
65 Yauheni Hutarovich - AG2R La Mondiale
66 Leigh Howard - Orica GreenEdge
67 Gustav Larsson - IAM Cycling
68 Robert Kiserlovski - RadioShack Leopard
69 Alberto Losada Alguacil - Team Katusha
70 Davide Malacarne - Team Europcar
71 Jack Bauer - Garmin Sharp
72 David Lopez Garcia - Sky Procycling
73 Rémi Pauriol - Sojasun
74 Michael Morkov - Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0.12
75 Alessandro De Marchi - Cannondale
76 Andrew Talansky - Garmin Sharp
77 Bertjan Lindeman - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
78 Thomas Voeckler - Team Europcar
79 Nicolas Roche - Team Saxo-Tinkoff
80 Andrea Palini - Lampre-Merida
81 Julien Simon - Sojasun
82 David Millar - Garmin Sharp
83 Jakob Fuglsang - Astana Pro Team
84 Frederik Willems - Lotto Belisol
85 Danny Pate - Sky Procycling
86 Andreas Klöden - RadioShack Leopard
87 Simon Spilak - Team Katusha
88 David Tanner - Team Blanco
89 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas - Movistar Team
90 Arnold Jeannesson - FDJ 0.13
91 Evaldas Siskevicius - Sojasun
92 Jerome Coppel - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
93 Rein Taaramae - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
94 Frederik Veuchelen - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
95 Diego Ulissi - Lampre-Merida
96 Sébastien Minard - AG2R La Mondiale
97 Stijn Vandenbergh - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
98 Sébastien Hinault - IAM Cycling
99 Michele Scarponi - Lampre-Merida
100 Gaetan Bille - Lotto Belisol
101 Rory Sutherland - Team Saxo-Tinkoff
102 Steven Kruijswijk - Team Blanco
103 Ivan Basso - Cannondale 0.14
104 Daniel Oss - BMC Racing Team
105 Thomas Lövkvist - IAM Cycling
106 Markel Irizar Aranburu - RadioShack Leopard
107 Maxim Iglinskiy - Astana Pro Team
108 Lucas Sebastian Haedo - Cannondale
109 Tom Stamsnijder - Team Argos-Shimano
110 Vasil Kiryienka - Sky Procycling
111 Mauro Da Dalto - Cannondale
112 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui - Euskaltel-Euskadi
113 Yury Trofimov - Team Katusha 0.15
114 Thierry Hupond - Team Argos-Shimano
115 Romain Feillu - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
116 Simon Clarke - Orica GreenEdge
117 Julien El Fares - Sojasun
118 Bert De Backer - Team Argos-Shimano
119 Jens Voigt - RadioShack Leopard
120 Vincent Jerome - Team Europcar
121 Jerome Cousin - Team Europcar
122 Denis Menchov - Team Katusha
123 Fumiyuki Beppu - Orica GreenEdge
124 Javier Moreno Bazan - Movistar Team
125 Tom Veelers - Team Argos-Shimano
126 Manuele Mori - Lampre-Merida
127 Egoitz Garcia Echeguibel - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
128 Romain Bardet - AG2R La Mondiale 0.16
129 Egor Silin - Astana Pro Team
130 Dominik Nerz - BMC Racing Team
131 Francis De Greef - Lotto Belisol
132 Ion Izagirre Insausti - Euskaltel-Euskadi
133 Kevin De Weert - Omega Pharma-Quick-Step Cycling Team
134 Paolo Longo Borghini - Cannondale
135 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau - Euskaltel-Euskadi
136 Guillaume Bonnafond - AG2R La Mondiale
137 Johann Tschopp - IAM Cycling 0.17
138 Dennis Vanendert - Lotto Belisol
139 Dirk Bellemakers - Lotto Belisol
140 Amaël Moinard - BMC Racing Team
141 Alexandre Pichot - Team Europcar
142 Stefan Denifl - IAM Cycling
143 Ian Boswell - Sky Procycling
144 Christophe Le Mevel - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
145 Marco Bandiera - IAM Cycling 0.18
146 Mattia Cattaneo - Lampre-Merida
147 Eduard Vorganov - Team Katusha
148 Romain Lemarchand - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
149 Yannick Talabardon - Sojasun
150 Romain Sicard - Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.19
151 Jonathan Tiernan-Locke - Sky Procycling
152 Roy Curvers - Team Argos-Shimano
153 Kanstantsin Siutsou - Sky Procycling
154 Angelo Tulik - Team Europcar
155 Kevin Seeldraeyers - Astana Pro Team
156 Martin Elmiger - IAM Cycling 0.20
157 Johan Vansummeren - Garmin Sharp
158 Luis Angel Mate Mardones - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
159 Andrey Zeits - Astana Pro Team
160 Brent Bookwalter - BMC Racing Team
161 Alex Howes - Garmin Sharp 0.21
162 Hubert Dupont - AG2R La Mondiale
163 Evgeny Petrov - Team Saxo-Tinkoff
164 Jure Kocjan - Euskaltel-Euskadi
165 Edward King - Cannondale
166 Ivan Santaromita - BMC Racing Team
167 Lars Ytting Bak - Lotto Belisol
168 Daniel Navarro Garcia - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
169 Anders Lund - Team Saxo-Tinkoff
170 Jacob Rathe - Garmin Sharp
171 Björn Leukemans - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0.22
172 Fabian Wegmann - Garmin Sharp
173 Laurent Didier - RadioShack Leopard
174 Warren Barguil - Team Argos-Shimano
175 Mathias Frank - BMC Racing Team
176 Kristijan Durasek - Lampre-Merida
177 Mikel Nieve Iturralde - Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.24
178 Yann Huguet - Team Argos-Shimano 0.25
179 Pierrick Fedrigo - FDJ
180 Elia Favilli - Lampre-Merida 0.26
181 Stef Clement - Team Blanco 0.41
182 Romain Zingle - Cofidis, Solutions Credits
183 Maxime Monfort - RadioShack Leopard 0.42
184 Andreas Klier - Garmin Sharp 0.49