Bennett was forced to work hard before seeing off his challengers in a sprint to the line in Bollène, finishing the 203 kilometre stage five in 5hr 16min.

It was the fifth Paris-Nice stage win of his career and second in this year’s competition following his success on the opening day.

"The guys were incredible today," said the Deceuninck-QuickStep rider.

"I was suffering the last few kilometres.

"I don't know what it is but people won't let me follow my own train here.

"It's frustrating in the final.

"I just got back on before the roundabout.

"It was a very hard final.

"I didn't think I would hold it to the line but the guys did an incredible job and I'm just proud I could finish it off."

Frenchman Nacer Bouhanni of Arkéa–Samsic had to settle for second spot while Germany’s Pascal Ackermann of Bora–Hansgrohe came third ahead of fellow countryman Phil Bauhaus of Team Bahrain Victorious.

But Bennett was critical of his rivals’ tactics in the sprint.

"For some reason, I'm not left to follow my own wheel, guys are coming in and it seems like they just want to disrupt our sprint instead of concentrating on their own race," said Bennett.

"We don't look at anybody else, so I don't know why they're getting so fixated on us.

"Maybe my teammates are too strong."

Roglič retained the race leader’s yellow and white jersey but suffered a big scare when he crashed with 37km to go.

He managed to complete the race but team-mate Tony Martin, the 2011 Paris-Nice champion, was forced to pull out after sustaining an elbow injury in the pile-up.

"Probably Tony crashed right in front of me because of the track," said Roglič in a report by Wielerflits.

"I couldn't do much and fell over it.

"It is a pity for our team that Tony had to give up.

"I especially hope that Tony is 'OK' and will return to the peloton soon."

Roglič leads Germany’s defending champion Maximilian Schachmann by 31 seconds heading into the final three stages.

Tomorrow riders are due to tackle the 202.5km sixth stage from Brignoles to Biot.