Bonnet wins sprint finish to claim stage two of Paris-Nice

BBOX'S William Bonnet won the second stage of Paris-Nice after a sprint finish in Contres.

The 27-year old Frenchman overtook Liquigas rider Peter Sagan on the line with defending Paris-Nice champion Luis Leon Sanchez third.

The quartet of Mauro Finetto, Jens Mouris, Laurent Mangel and Koen de Koert established an early 3 minutes gap after 4km but led were gradually hauled in by the peloton over the three category three climbs.

Columbia-HTC rider Tony Martin and former Irish road race champion Dan Martin were caught up in a nasty crash as the peloton approached the finish but all cyclists eventually crossed the line safely.

Rabobank's Lars Boom maintained the yellow jersey, after finishing in the peloton, and leads the general classification on 8:55.51 hours with Team Saxo Bank's Jens Voigt still 5 seconds back in second.

Caisse d'Epargne's Sanchez cut the gap between Boom and himself down to 10 secs in third courtesy of his third place.

Meanwhile, Tour de France champion Alberto Contador and Team Sky's stage one winner Gregory Henderson finished in the peloton and remain 25 and 20 seconds behind Boom in eighth and sixth respectively.

Wednesday's third stage is 208km between Saint-Junien and Aurillac with three category three climbs followed by three category two climbs.