Geraint Thomas stays fifth at Paris-Nice as Michael Matthews wins

Geraint Thomas stayed fifth but gained time on his rivals for overall victory as Michael Matthews extended his lead of Paris-Nice by winning stage two.

Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) crossed the line second behind Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) in a sprint finish, but the Frenchman was relegated two places for veering off his racing line.

Matthews received 10 bonus seconds for the win and now leads second-placed Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) by 14 seconds overall, with Patrick Bevin (Cannondale) five seconds further back in third.

Thomas is also 19 seconds down on Matthews, but he is now eight seconds ahead of Richie Porte (BMC Racing) and 14 seconds ahead of Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) after both riders finished four seconds behind the Welshman on the day.

The eight-day race continues on Wednesday with a 165.5km third stage ending with an uphill finish on the category-two Mont Brouilly, which averages 7.7 per cent in gradient over its 3km distance.

Stage two result

1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 5:04:26

2 Niccolo Bonifazio (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, same time

3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, st

4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha, +1sec

5 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr, st

Selected others

6 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, st

17 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, st

General classification

1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 9:41:46

2 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin, +14sec

3 Patrick Bevin (NZ) Cannondale, +19

4 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Movistar, same time

5 Geraint Thomas (GB) Team Sky, st