After being narrowly beaten into second place by a strong Bradley Wiggins at last year's Paris-Nice, Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) has arrived in France with a firm eye on revenge. He got his race off to a perfect start with a third place on the 2,9 km prologue yesterday.

With a podium place in the Volta ao Algarve and 8th in Etoile de Besseges, Lieuwe Westra has proved form the beginning that he is ready for the new season. His first major objective is a tilt at overall victory in the race to the sun, Paris-Nice, and he could not be any happier with his start.

The short, technical nature of the course made many believe that a sprinter would triumph. As a consequence, Westra started out without victory on his mind, but ended up greatly encouraged by his sensations.

 “Since the prologue was short and technical, I wanted to reduce the damage," he said after the race. "I took all risks and went full gas where possible. The result is superb. It proves that I am more than okay. If you are not good, you lose 5 or 10 seconds. I felt power. Etoile de Besseges and Volta ao Algarve went well, and even if it too early to draw any final conclusions, it seems that I’m in shape on the good moment.”

Westra will bide his time during the first few stages which are tailor-made for the sprinters before launching his bid for overall victory on the climb of Montagne de Lure and - more importantly for the strong time triallist - the final stage up Col d'Eze. He will, however, have to be careful to not get trapped, should the wind cause havoc to the peloton on its way towards the south.

The race continues today with 195 km from St-Germain-en-Laye to Nemours. With sun and light wind expected, Westra may be able to spend a calm day while his team will look to sprinters Romain Feillu and Kris Boeckmans to produce results.