As it happened: Late attack brought back for another sprint finish at stage two of Paris-Nice
It's a day for the sprinters on a 187km stage from Epône to Montargis
Hello and welcome to stage of two of Paris-Nice!
Whereas yesterday’s finale was made complicated by a series of hills, today is a much more straightforward sprinter stage - the most straightforward of this year’s Paris-Nice, in fact.
In total, there are three categorised climbs today, none of them longer than 1.2km and one of them steeper than 6.6%. The last one is completed with over 70km left of flat roads to ride, which should make this easy to control for the sprinter teams.
Of course, cycling is rarely as straightforward as it seems on paper, and one factor that could have made this a very different day is strong weather. But conditions appear mild, with the temperature warm and the wind gentle.
Yesterday's stage winner and race leader Luke Lamperti, who will wear the yellow jersey today.
For a reminder of what happened yesterday, here's our race report.
The riders are gliding through Achères for the unofficial start, and will be racing after about 3.km.
Paris-Nice isn’t the only World Tour racing taking place today - over in Italy Tirreno-Adriatico has gotton under way. We’ve got live coverage of that race, too.
A Jayco rider is the first to make a move, and another rider is trying to join him.
The riders at the unofficial start.
Jasha Sütterlin is the Jayco rider at the front, and he leads the race by a few seconds ahead of three chasers.
Two of the riders who were in the break yesterday, Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) and Mathis Le Berre TotalEnergies), are chasing, along with Le Berre's teammate Matteo Vercher.
The peloton seems to have sat up - they're already over a minute behind.
The three chasers still have a few seconds to make up on Sütterlin, but it looks like these four riders will form the break of the day.
Sütterlin does indeed sit up and wait for Pedersen, Le Berre and Vercher to join him, and the four are 1:45 ahead of the peloton. We have our break of the day.
That was an especially complicated process. The unlikelyhood of the break succeeding on such a flat stage is reflected in how little interest there was among the riders in the peloton to get into the break.
That said, yesterday the break came far closer than expected to surviving to the finish, so we can’t rule them out. And that’s a pretty strong quartet, with two of the men who did so well to hold off the peloton for so long yesterday.
Pleasant skies and nice conditions greet the riders today, further swinging the advantage towards the sprinters.
Despite having attacked earlier, Jasha Sütterlin is not actually in the break. He's back in the peloton, leaving just the three riders up the road.
At some point, Sütterlin must have thought better of taking part in the day’s break and determined it wasn’t worth the effort.
Here were the four riders together before Sütterlin dropped back.
And here are the three remaining riders, Pedersen, Le Berre and Vercher.
Said climb is the Côte des Mesnuls, a 1.2km effort averaging 5.5%. Its greatest significance will be staging a resumption of the rivalry between Pedersen and Le Berre in the break, as they fight it out for KOM points.
Here are the KOM rankings as things stand. Pedersen was comfortably the strongest yesterday, but Le Berre kept himself in contention, and today has his teammate Vercher to try to help him work over the man in the polka-dot jersey.
2 Le Berre 8
3 Walker 3
4 Grignard 2
5 Gamper 2
Here are the updated classifications:
2 Le Berre 10 points
3 Walker 3 points
It seems that that's job done for Vercher. He's sat up and waiting for the peloton to collect him.
The three riders at the front, that has now become two.
While things remain quiet here for now, have a read of the big news today that the Ineos Grenadiers team are set for a major budget boost having secured a new title sponsor.
Over at Tirreno-Adriatico, race favourite Isaac del Toro has just finished his ride in the opening stage time trial. You can follow us for all the action here.
Unperturbed by yesterday, when Biniam Girmay was only able to sprint for fifth place, NSN are once again taking the responsibility to ride at the front of the peloton.
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Luke Lamperti in the bunch, on a day where he’s seeking to both retain the yellow jersey, and potentially add a second stage win to his success yesterday. That result felt like a major breakthrough in the young American’s career, and proved his potential as a potentially elite sprinter.
Still it's NSN who lead the peloton. This is a big statement of intent regarding how confident they are in Biniam Girmay's ability to land them a stage win today.
This one is the Côte de Villeconin, and it's another modest affair, lasting just 1km at an average of 6.1%.
The two leaders are on the climb.
Two minutes later, Guillaume Boivin of NSN lead the peloton over the summit.
The updated KOM rankings. Pedersen will again wear the polka-dot jersey tomorrow, so long as he successfully finishes today’s stage.
2 Le Berre 12 points
3 Walker 3 points
100KM TO GO
There's another 25km until the third and final climb of the day, the category three Côte du Pressoir. Maintaining a lead of just under two minutes, the two leaders can be confident of still leading the race by the time they get there - even if the stage win feels very unlikely.
The roads are exposed enough today for wind to have been potentially a factor, but with blue skies and only a gentle breeze that has not materialised.
Jonas Vingegaard is positioned safely in the bunch, and despite not losing any time yesterday was not a happy man at the finish. He criticised the route, which he felt caused undue stress due to too many complications.
Mechanical for Nils Politt, who looks calm and has swapped bikes. No need to panic at this early, relaxed phase of the stage.
Pedersen and Le Berre, soldiering on with their (surely doomed) breakaway.
It's still only NSN and EF Education-EasyPost who are doing any pace-setting at the front of the peloton. Given how open yeterday's finish was, however, we can imagine there will be a lot of riders with a chance of winning.
Notable by their absence at the front, having done so much work yesterday, are Picnic-PostNL. Their sprinter Casper van Uden was dropped out of contention on the final climb, and therefore unable to sprint despite having his teammates ride at the front of the peloton for much of the day. He cited illness as a reason for not being in top shape, but if he can recover more today he’ll be a contender.
After fishing runner-up yesterday, Vito Braet must be considered a favorite for the win. The Belgian is without a win of any kind during his professional career, but he’s long overdue, and that result suggests he’s capable of doing so today.
The leaders are climbing for the final time today, up the Côte du Pressoir. Can this be the one that Le Berre at last gets the better of Pedersen?
Having spent so long riding for this, the pair are relishing this battle. Both are looking at each other and engaging in gamesmanship.
Le Berre is leading with Pedersen on his wheel as they approach the top.
There’s a change in the peloton, as Lotto lead up the climb. They must fancy the chances of Braet at the finale today.
Pedersen was back with his team car, seemingly discussing what the plan was now now that all of the available KOM points have been swept up. By the looks of things, he’s going to keep working with Le Berre, rather than sitting up.
Here are the final KOM rankings of the day:
2 Le Berre 14 points
3 Walker 3 points
Lotto Intermarché haven’t just lent a man to take part in the pace-setting, but have a whole long line of riders leading at the front. It’s a committed move - but what for?
It could be that Lotto have their eye on an intermediate sprint coming up in about 10km With Braet currently lying in second overall just 4 seconds behind Lamperti, and more bonus seconds unavailable on the line at the finish, the Belgian has a chance to get himself into the yellow jersey today.
Lotto’s work has brought the two leaders back to within just 20 seconds. If they catch them, then the maximum bonus second will be available to them at the intermediate sprint.
Just 10 seconds now. They're going to catch them.
There are 6, 4 and points available for the first three riders over the line at the intermediate sprint - that surely is why Lotto have been working.
That's it, the break has been caught.
Pedersen’s day out in front might be over, but he has at least secured the polka-dot jersey for another stage.
Since the catch was made, the pace is back down in the peloton. Lotto don’t want to burn all their matches before the actual lead-out for the intermediate sprint, and so no team is pushing on for now.
The sprint is still 8km away. Surely Braet is going to go for it, but will Lamperti go hard also in defence of his yellow jersey, or reserve his energy for the final sprint at the finish?
Things are very relaxed for now. Riders at the back are enjoying casual conversations with each other.
Over in Italy, the opening stage of Tirreno-Adriatico has finished. Have a read of our lowdown of what happened here.
The pace has increased again as the near the sprint.
Lotto have again taken control at the front, and Lamperti is alert to it. He's sticking to Braet's wheel.
Braet's being led out, Lamperti still on his wheel.
Juan Ayuso is also getting involved.
Braet takes it, just ahead of Lamperti. And it looks like Ayuso might have taken third.
That means Braet has cut his deficit to Lamperti to just two seconds. If he can take more bonuses at the finish, and finish ahead of Lamperti, then the yellow jersey will be his! This could turn out to be some manoeuvre by Lotto.
Ayuso did indeed take third place in the sprint, meaning he gains another two seconds in his GC bid.
Now that the sprint is done, the pace has again been knocked off, and the peloton is ambling their way along the road.
Hold on a minute - actually it’s been announced that Ayuso pipped Lamperti at the line to take second place, meaning he takes four seconds, while Lampoerti only takes two.
One team to look out for today is Cofidis, whether they sprint with Coquard or Fretin. The latter would seem to be the most likely candidate, having finished fourth yesterday, and could have the advantage of benefiting from an elite leadout from Coquard.
Another man with a great shout today is Phil Bauhaus. Whereas yesterday he was dumped out of contention on the climbs, this time he’s safely in the peloton, and should be fresher having not gone for the intermediate sprint. At his best, he’s one of the quickest finishers in this field.
Decathlon briefly upped the pace going into a sharp corner, but relented once they got round, and the pace has been knocked off once more.
They're back up, but Bauhaus looks hurt. He's changed bikes and has set off again, but gingerly.
Marijn van den Berg was also involved, and is making his way back to the peloton. EF Education-EasyPost will hope he's not too hurt, as his lead-out yesterday was crucial to guiding Lampreti to victory.
The pace is still slow in the peloton, so the fallers who aren’t too hurt should be able to return to it.
Bahaus is making his way through the convoy, and is looking OK again.
The peloton, all bunched together.
Sandy Dujardin has had a brief looking-to at the doctors car, and looks good to continue. It seems all of those involved in the crash are now back in the peloton.
Mechanical for Rune Herregodts. The pace is so slow that he'll be able to rejoin without much effort.
We have an attack! Daan Hoole was gone off the front.
That’s woken the peloton up. They’re now having to chase again.
NSN have taken up the chase in the peloton. Hoole's lead is still growing for now, up to 11 seconds.
Now Movistar are assisting NSN with the pace-setting. Their man Orluis Aular was third-place yesterday.
Still Hoole's lead grows. It's up to 16 seconds now, with 17km left to ride.
A crash in the peloton. Alpecin are the main team affected, with three riders held up.
Meanwhile Hoole's lead is growing again, now up to 22 seconds. With just 14km left to catch him, this could become dangerous...
Still the gap grows - it's now up to 27 seconds!
Movistar now have a line of three riders leading the chase, taking over from NSN.
Here's Hoole, who is fully committed to this attack.
For the first time in a while, the peloton is starting to make inroads. The gap’s fallen a bit, to 22 seconds with 9km left.
Hoole’s looking over his shoulder and can see the peloton bearing down on him. With 8km left, they’re 20 seconds behind.
The three Alpecin riders who were involved in the crash have just made their way back into the peloton incidentally.
Here comes EF Education-EasyPost at the front of the peloton, for the first time in a while.
Hoole is struggling now. 7km from the finish, his lead has been cut to 13 seconds.
5KM TO GO
Hoole is really digging deep, and it's not over for him yet. In fact his lead has grown out a bit again, to 20 seconds.
The peloton can see Hoole up the road on a long, straight section, but he remains tantalising out of reach, still 16 seconds ahead with 4km left to ride.
10 seconds with 3km left. This is going to come down to the wire.
Red Bull have taken over at the front of the peloton, but they're more interested in defending GC than bringing Hoole back for the stage.
Hoole has taken advantage of a more technical section of twists and turns, and still has 8 seconds with 2km left to go.
Hoole is visibly struggling, but still has more than 5 seconds as he nears the final kilometre.
EF are back at the front of the peloton.
That's it, the catch is made, shortly after the flamme rouge.
Astana lead the sprint out for Kanter.
Mike Teunissen was the man to lead out Kanter, and delivered the German expertly for the sprint. But Kanter was still left with a lot to do, and showed an impressive sprint to take the victory.
Pithie was second, and Stuyven third.
Lamperti was fifth. While not as impressive as yesterday, that should keep him in the yellow jersey.
Just like Lamperti yesterday, victory today must surely be the biggest of Max Kanter’s career. While the 28-year-old has been close before, this is his first at World Tour level.
That was also a great sprint from Pithie to take second place Having shown flashes of form Down Under and during Opening Weekend, it looks like the New Zealander is approaching his form of a couple of years ago.
That’s also a great result for Jasper Stuyven in third, his best since moving to Soudal-QuickStep for the new season. He seems to be approaching great form ahead of the classics, after illness forced him out of Opening Weekend.
Luke Lamperti is up on the podium, collecting his yellow jersey. He retains his overall lead - but only just. Him and Braet are on the same time after the latter claimed more seconds at the intermediate sprint, but Lamperti leads on countback.
That was another disappointing day for Biniam Girmay. Despite all the work his NSN team did throughout the day, he fell out of contention towards the end, and could only manage 42nd at the finish.
Max Kanter taking his prize for winning the stage on the podium.
Casper Pedersen will again ride in the polka-dot jersey tomorrow, having increased his lead today.
Unsurprisingly, Dan Hoole has been awarded the combativity prize, for his late attack that threatened to upend the whole stage.
Thanks for joining us today! We’ll be back again for the team time trial, the first real GC contest of the race, and a chance for those with the strongest teams (here’s looking at you, Visma-Lease a Bike) to really lay down a marker and gain some time. Be sure to tune in again once more.
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