The Dutch squad went on the attack in the closing part of the 159.8km stage, which began and ended in Mantes-la-Ville.

Slovenia’s Primož Roglič, Belgium’s Wout Van Aert and France’s Laporte launched an attack as the final climb began on the finishing circuit.

The trio were initially tracked by the Czech Republic’s Zdenek Stybar, but the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team rider was dropped with six kilometres left to go.

Roglič, Van Aert and Laporte began the equivalent of a team time trial in the closing stages to build a lead of around 20 seconds to the peloton, who were unable to close the gap.

The Jumbo-Visma riders entered the finish together, with Roglič and Van Aert granting their team-mate his maiden victory at an International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour race.

Laporte crossed the line in a winning time of 3hrs 48min 28sec, with his compatriots awarded the same time in second and third place.

France’s Pierre Latour led the peloton across the line at 19 seconds down.

"It was crazy, we didn’t plan for that," said Laporte.

"We had established that I would attack if Primož and Wout were in a good position.

"It’s unbelievable, if they had told me this morning, I wouldn’t have believed it.

"Wout told me with one kilometre to go today was for me.

"It’s a really nice gift from them, I’m the yellow jersey of Paris-Nice."

Laporte leads the general classification by four seconds from Roglič, with bonus seconds awarded to the top three finishers on the stage.

Van Aert lies third at six seconds down, with Latour lying 19 seconds off the lead in the early general classification standings.

The result gives Jumbo-Visma a strong start to their general classification campaign, with three-time Vuelta a España winner Roglič starting among the favourites.

Roglič will hope to banish memories of last year’s race, where a crash on the final stage saw him relinquish the lead.

Britain’s Adam Yates is among a series of contenders 22 seconds off the race lead, while two-time defending champion Maximilian Schachmann of Germany is 36 seconds adrift.

The race will continue tomorrow with a 159.2km flat stage from Auffargis to Orléans.