Cycling:France's William Bonnet avoided a pile-up in the finale of the second stage of the Paris-Nice race to snatch his most prestigious victory to date.
The 27-year-old surged in the final stretch to win in Limoges ahead of Peter Sagan while last year's overall winner Luis Leon Sanchez was third.
Dutchman Lars Boom retained his overall lead. He has a five-second advantage over Germany's Jens Voigt while Spaniard Sanchez moved up to third, 10 seconds adrift.
After yesterday’s sixth place finish, Nicolas Roche finished well down the field in 35th today and slipped to 43rd in the overall standings.
"It's the most beautiful win of my career. I used to work a lot for Thor Hushovd when I was with Credit Agricole. I have more freedom to play my own cards since I joined Bbox," Bonnet said.
Bonnet was lucky to stay out of trouble when Grega Bole hit the tarmac in front of Jimmy Casper only 600 metres from the line.
Sanchez attacked immediately after the pile-up, followed by Sagan, but a late surge allowed Bonnet to raise his arms on the line.
Unlike in the first stage, when cold and strong crosswinds caused massive pile-ups in the peloton, most favourites reached Limoges unscathed.
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador started as planned despite bruises from his crash the previous day and he took no risks, finishing 17th in the same time as Bonnet.
Wednesday's third stage takes the peloton to Aurillac over 210 km.