By Julien Pretot NICE, France, March 9 (Reuters) - Britain's growing cycling culture has helped to globalise the sport while keeping it close to its European roots, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said. "Globalisation is necessary but we need to respect the roots of cycling," Prudhomme told Reuters in an interview after the fifth stage of the Paris-Nice race. "If cycling has been resistant to scandals it's because it has deep roots in some countries."

March 5 (Infostrada Sports) - Classification from Paris - Nice after Stage 2 on Tuesday 1. Elia Viviani (Italy / Cannondale) 10:33:11" 2. Sylvain Chavanel (France / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) +7" 3. Damien Gaudin (France / Europcar) +8" 4. Lieuwe Westra (Netherlands / Vacansoleil) +9" 5. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy / Lampre) +10" 6. Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands / Blanco) 7. Geoffrey Soupe (France / FDJ) 8.

Britain's Olympic sprint champion Jason Kenny won the keirin gold medal at the world track cycling championships on Friday, a victory which sent girlfriend Laura Trott, also a title winner, into a Twitter frenzy. Kenny beat German favourite Maximilian Levy, who had lost out to another British rider, Chris Hoy, last year. Dutch rider Matthijs Buchli claimed bronze. Trott, Kenny's girlfriend and a gold medallist in the women's team pursuit on Thursday, praised her man on Twitter.

Katusha's successful appeal to be reintegrated into cycling's World Tour means 23 teams instead of the usual 22 will line up for the Paris-Nice and Criterium du Dauphine races, organisers ASO announced on Tuesday. "We aren't going to leave a team by the side of the road," Christian Prudhomme, director of the two stage events as well as the Tour de France, told AFP. Katusha are back in cycling's top league after overturning their original exclusion from the circuit on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).