Trek-Segafredo's Richie Porte continued his already successful season by finishing third overall in Sunday's Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var. The 35-year-old climber won a stage and the overall at the Tour Down Under in South Australia in January, and this weekend's three-day stage race in France marks the start of his European campaign following Paris-Nice in early March.

Porte kept pace with race leader Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) on Sunday's final stage to Mont Faron, moving up from 14th place on stage 2, which Quintana won, to the podium, ultimately 40 seconds behind the Colombian and second place Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and finished in the same time.

Quintana had already won in Europe at last week's Tour de la Provence, while Porte and Bardet had just started their European season at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var.

"My legs weren't feeling good today, so I wondered what would happen.

For Trek-Segafredo, Julien Bernard won the final stage at Mont Faron, his first professional victory.

"Our goal was a stage win and a podium finish. I can't believe Julien won. He always does a great job for the team. But all the riders have been great over the last three days and we are back in Europe and starting in a positive way.

"Now I'm looking forward to Paris-Nice in two weeks," said the two-time winner, who took the title in 2013 over the now-retired Andrew Talansky and in 2015 over Michal Kwiatkowski.