Home favourite Julian Alaphillippe won Stage 2 of the Tour de France after a draining sprint finish.
Mitchelton-Scott's Adam Yates caught a two-man breakaway of Alaphillipe and Switzerland's Marc Hirschi on the final climb with 10 kilometres to go in Nice and worked as a team to hold off the peloton.
The trio were almost caught as they played cat and mouse with the finish line beckoning, but Deceuninck-Quick-Step's Alaphillippe's final burst saw him pip Hirschi (Sunweb), with Yates crossing one second behind.
Alaphillipe took the yellow jersey from stage one winner Alexander Kristoff, of UAE Team Emirates, and Yates moved up to second, four seconds behind, in the general classification.
An emotional Alaphillipe would dedicate victory to his late father Jo, who passed away in June at the age of 80 after a long illness.
