Sonny Colbrelli takes Paris-Nice stage two as Arnaud Demare retains lead

Sonny Colbrelli produced a heroic sprinting effort to claim the second stage of Paris-Nice after another day when strong winds wreaked havoc.

Small groups were spread over the French countryside at times but a bigger peloton than Sunday's opening stage made it to the finish line in Amilly, where Colbrelli claimed his first win as a member of the Bahrain-Merida team.

A number of leading contenders for the overall race win, including dual winner Richie Porte, lost any chance of victory after being caught out in echelons during the early part of the race.

Arnaud Demare (FDJ) retains the yellow jersey after finishing third on the stage while Porte came in with a group more than 14 minutes behind.

Sunday's victor Demare looked to be a massive threat for a second straight stage win when Colbrelli took up the lead with around 500m remaining.

But sprint stars including Demare, eventual runner-up John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo), Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto-NL Jumbo) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) were unable to get past the Italian.

Demare is six seconds ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) on general classification with Team Sky's Sergio Henao 23 seconds down in eighth.

Tuesday's third stage sees the remaining riders take on a 190km stage from Chablis to Chalons-sur-Saone with a second category climb topping out 26km from the finish.

Stage two result:

1 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain Merida 4h 20m 59s
2 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo all same time
3 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ
4 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Lotto-NL Jumbo
5 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis

Overall standings:

1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ 7h 43m 28s
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors +6s
3 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Quick-Step Floors +17s
4 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin +19s
5 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal same time