Ireland's Nicolas Roche finished in 28th place in wet and windy conditions on the 185.5k second stage of the Paris-Nice race.
Crosswinds played havoc with Roche's gameplan, leaving him behind when the peloton split midway through the stage as they chased down the early breakaway leader Oliver Kaisen.
Roche was never able to make the ground up and was left in the second pack, eventually finishing 2:29 behind stage winner Tom Boonan.
Boonen finished just ahead of Spain's Jose Joaquin Rojas and Germany's John Degenkolb.
Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins claimed the leader's yellow jersey after finishing among the leading group.
Overnight leader Gustav Larsson of Sweden found himself trapped in the chasing pack with Roche, as were Luxembourg's Andy Schleck and defending champion Tony Martin of Germany. They never managed to make it back.
Wiggins now leads American Levi Leipheimer by six seconds and Boonen by seven, while Roche is 63rd overall and is more that three minutes behind the race leader.
