The Dane broke away and formed a small group together with two other riders in the first four kilometers, with a maximum of nine points available on Tuesday afternoon, when the peloton made its way to Montargis.
The trio managed to establish a maximum gap of two minutes, which was sufficient for Pedersen to claim all three classified climbs on the route before being reeled in by the bunch with approximately 60 kilometers remaining.
Max Kanter had never won a World Tour race before. That changed today for the 28-year-old German, who dominated the bunch sprint in Montargis.
While the field of sprinters at Paris-Nice is limited, the XDS-Astana rider executed a flawless race, thanks in large part to the work of his lead-out man Mike Teunissen, who had finished a strong eighth the day before.
After a crash involving Cees Bol, his teammate Dan Hoole (Décathlon-CGA CGM) made a move with 20 kilometers to go, just moments after the breakaway was caught by the peloton. His solo effort ended 800 meters from the finish line.
In the overall standings, Luke Lamperti (EF Education - EasyPost) remains in the lead. Jonas Vingegaard tried to save strength for tomorrow's team time trial and remained at the back of the peloton throughout the race.
