Dorian Godon led the INEOS Grenadiers home in a hotly contested sprint finish to kick off Paris-Nice.
The French national champion finished narrowly outside the top 10 on stage one, following a messy finish into Carrieres-sous-Poissy.
Luke Lamperti (EF Education - EasyPost) claimed the early victory, with a crash blocking the road behind for much of the peloton.
With the three-kilometre rule applied there were no issues for INEOS Grenadiers' trio of GC men - with Oscar Onley, Carlos Rodriguez and Kevin Vauquelin all crossing the line safely. Rodriguez was able to battle back from a bike change with 24km to go and was also caught up in a late crash, but would cross the line on the same time as his rivals.
On a tricky finishing circuit, Michal Kwiatkowski was key in keeping the team to the fore on the final lap.
The action continues on Monday with another likely chance for the sprinters.
Want to know more about Kevin Vauquelin? Watch the new episode of All Access Presented by TotalEnergies.