Paris-Nice 2012: reigning champion Bradley Wiggins lays down marker with second place in opening time-trial Wiggins, who suffered badly in the rain during the Rotterdam prologue of the 2010 Tour, must have had a bad case of déjà vu as the rain lashed down on the relatively straight course. The 31 year-old, though, kept his composure and produced a smooth ride while taking caution as he cornered. "I didn't take any risks in the corners but I knew in a straight line I was flying," Wiggins said afterwards. I wasn't willing to find out whether it was slippery so I never really pushed it as hard as I could have done in the corners. I'd already slipped on the ramp coming off the start, so straight away I had one mind on safety in the corners. Fortunately there weren't so many corners so it wasn't as decisive. With Wiggins reaching the 1.8km time split seven seconds ahead of Martin the omens appeared good for the Briton. Indeed, Martin lost an additional 17 secs to the Team Sky rider over the remainder of the course before the German finished in a disappointing 28th place. Geraint Thomas, Wiggins's team-mate, finished 26 secs adrift of Larsson is 32nd spot while Ireland's Nicholas Roche came in 15 secs further back in 80th place. Paris-Nice continues on Monday with the 185km second stage from Mantles-la-Jolie to Orléans where crosswinds, as Wiggins explained, are expected. Now it's about staying safe really. This race is known in the next few days for having a lot of crashes, potentially in the crosswinds. The weather might be a bit dodgy tomorrow. Meanwhile, Britain's Jonathan Tiernan-Locke continued his impressive start to the season with a second place in the Tour of Murcia after the Endura rider finished 14th in Sunday's 12.3km time-trial. The winner in the mountain's classification at last year's Tour of Britain claimed a podium finish in Saturday's 198.2km stage from Balneario de Archena to Sierra de Espuña behind stage winner Nairo Quintana of Colombia and Holland's Woet Poels. Elsewhere in Europe over the weekend, Fabian Cancellara won the Strade Bianche on Saturday as the Swiss rider put his own marker down ahead of the spring classics. Paris-Nice details Stage one; Dampierre-en-Yvelines to Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, 9.4km: 1. Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil-DCM - Swe) 11 minutes 19 seconds, 2. Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky - GB) at 1 sec, 3. Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - US) 4 secs, 4. Tejay Van Garderen (BMC - US) 9 secs, 5. Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM - Bel) 12 secs, 6. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step - Fra) at same time, 7. Rein Taaramae (Cofidis, Le Crédit en Ligne - Est) 13 secs, 8. Markel Irizar (RadioShack-Nissan-Trek - Spa) s.t., 9. Rémi Pauriol (FDJ-Bigmat - Fra) 15 secs, 10. Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun - Fra) s.t. Selected others: 32. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky - GB) 26 secs, 80. Nicholas Roche (Ag2r-La Mondiale - Irl) 41 secs.