The legal battles continue in the background, but at the forefront, the bicycle battles are on with all of the invited showing up to race at Paris-Nice. It’s nice to see the riders racing, not stuck in the middle of a bicker fest.

The 66th running of the race started with a 4.6km time trial in Amilly. Rain fell throughout the middle part of the race, and the entire day was probably a little cooler than the riders would have liked.

Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole, after already earning a stage win at the Tour Méditerranéen and third place at the Het Volk put in the best time today. Markel Irizar (Euskatel-Euskadi) took second and Stefan Schumaker (Gerolsteiner) was in third.

American Danny Pate of the Slipstream-Chipotle H3O team was the highest American finisher, coming in at 6th.