Gustav Larsson wins Paris-Nice prologue

SAINT-REMY-LES-CHEVREUSE, France, March 4 AP – Gustav Larsson beat British cyclist Bradley Wiggins by one second to win the prologue stage of the Paris-Nice race on Sunday.

The Swede completed the 9.4km time trial from Dampierre-en-Yvelines to Saint-Remy-les-Chevreuse on the outskirts of Paris in 11 minutes, 19 seconds.

Veteran American rider Levi Leipheimer finished four seconds behind Larsson in third place.

Best of the Australians were Richie Porte of Sky, 17 seconds down in 16th place, and GreenEdge’s Simon Gerrans, plus 23sec in 26th place.

“I wasn’t really sure of myself because it was only my second race this season. My legs were very hard, but it was enough,” said Larsson, who expects to struggle to retain the yellow jersey when the race reaches the mountains.

Larsson, a silver medallist in the time trial at the Olympics in Beijing four years ago, started in the middle of the field and had better racing conditions than Wiggins, who was the penultimate rider to set off under light rain.

“My goal is the GC (overall classification),” Wiggins said. “I took no risks in the bends.”

Andy Schleck, one of the favourites for this year’s Tour de France, had a poor day and finished 1:01 back in 142nd place.

Monday’s second stage is mostly flat over 185km from Mantes-la-Jolie to Orleans.

German rider Tony Martin, who won the Paris-Nice race last year, finished 25 seconds off the lead in 28th place.

The race ends next Sunday.

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