As it happened: Paris-Nice stage 2

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of Paris-Nice 2024!

Around half an hour until the stage gets underway.

A mostly flat day out today with only two climbs on the route – the Côte des Mesnuls and Côte de Villeconin – both before the halfway mark.

Here's a look at the stage 1 result from Sunday's opener powered by FirstCycling...

Olav Kooij took the sprint win ahead of Mads Pedersen on the uphill finish while Remco Evenepoel was on the attack to grab some bonus seconds.

The peloton has rolled out into the neutral zone in Thoiry.

Over in Tirreno-Adriatico the riders are starting with a 10km time trial in Lido di Camaiore.

Check out the Tirreno stage 1 start times here.

178km to go

We're underway on stage 2 of Paris-Nice!

Jonas Rutsch (EF) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) are on the attack again after going in the day's breakaway yesterday.

172km to go

The pair have 30 seconds on the peloton.

The first climb of the day is coming up. It's 1.2km at 5%.

166km to go

Rutsch and Burgaudeau lead the way onto the climb.

The latest time gap to the duo is over three minutes. We have a two-man break of the day.

And Rutsch leads the way over the top of the climb.

The German extends his lead in the mountain classification.

Lilian Calmejane is the next rider over back in the peloton for the single point on offer for third place at the top.

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155km to go

It seems that the time gap reported was wrong because Rutsch and Burgaudeau have just been caught by the peloton.

 No further attacks as the peloton continues on as one for now.

All smiles in the peloton as Ben Turner and Samuel Watson ride together.

145km to go

Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto-Dstny) is the next rider to try an attack.

The Dutchman is hanging off the front but not getting much leeway.

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130km to go

Eenkhoorn is caught by the peloton.

We're also covering the opening stage at Tirreno-Adriatico today.

Here's our stage 1 time trial live coverage.

125km to go

It's all together again now with no breakaway.

An average speed of just 33.35kph so far according to ASO's reporting...

The peloton rides on during stage 2.

Jonas Rutsch is going on the once again now!

Under 10km to go until the riders hit the day's second and final climb of the Côte de Villeconin.

115km to go

Rutsch has three other riders with him.

Burgaudeau is also with Rutsch.

His TotalEnergies teammate Pierre Latour is also in there as they tackle the climb.

105km to go

Burgaudeau leads the way over the top of the 800-metre climb with his teammate Latour in second position.

And Rutsch trails in third. So that's six, four, and two points handed out.

Burgaudeau is now the mountain classification leader! He has 15 points to Rutsch's 13.

Burgaudeau leads Latour and Rutsch on the way up.

As the riders near the 100km to go mark there's not much point in them continuing the attack. The breakaway men have dropped back to the peloton again and it's all back together.

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The peloton once again all back together inside the final 100km.

A 34.8kph average speed so far on stage 2.

Visma-Lease A Bike, Ineos Grenadiers, and DSM-Firmenich PostNL among the teams at the head of the peloton.

A very dull stage so far.

85km to go

No further action in the peloton and there's no reason for any riders to attack at this point either.

As the peloton continues to roll relatively slowly through the northern French countryside, it may be a good opportunity to enjoy some of the most stunning images from Strade Bianche on Saturday.

80km to go

The peloton is all together and is averaging a little over 35kph. A break seems unlikely to form this late in the stage, and so sprint teams will continue to govern the front of the peloton. 

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL are currently controlling the pace.

As we approach the final 70km Team dsm-firmenich PostNL continue to lead the pace, as the peloton continues to undulate through French farmlands.

Koen Bouwman has now been sat on the front for around 10km, just ahead of the Team dsm-firmenich PostNL team - protecting current Visma-Lease a Bike teammate and race leader Olav Kooij.

65KM to go

Status quo in the bunch without any break in front to chase

Fabio Jakobsen's DSM-Firmenich PostNL train have taken up second position behind the lone Visma rider Bouwman.

Still quite slow going here as we're pretty much playing a waiting game ahead of the finish.

Speeding up a little now as the peloton hits 10km to go to the intermediate sprint at Puiseaux.

The wind still hasn't picked up during the stage...

Several riders hit the deck in the peloton, including Arkéa's Donavan Grondin and QuickStep's Gianni Moscon.

The small group of riders chase back on as the sprint nears.

48km to go

Lidl-Trek wind it up for the sprint.

Mads Pedersen takes it long...

He battles against Danny van Poppel of Bora-Hansgrohe as he leads out his team's GC hope, Mattias Skjelmose.

But Van Poppel leads the way and saves the bonus seconds from going to Skjelmose. He was working on behalf of team leader Primož Roglič.

Skjelmose couldn't pass Pedersen and thus takes third for two bonus seconds.

45km to go

All bunched up at the front now after the sprint as things slow down once more.

Still no wind blowing and nobody is making an effort on the front as a result.

Race leader Olav Kooij drops back to his team car during this quiet period.

The peloton still travelling at around 35-37kph at the moment. The day's average is just under 37kph.

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Alpecin-Deceuninck, Bora-Hansgrohe, DSM-Firmenich PostNL, Bahrain Victorious, and Lidl-Trek are among the teams up front currently.

35km to go

We're slowly edging closer to the finish...

Check out the results of the stage 1 time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico here.

It was a surprise outcome with Filippo Ganna not the quickest in Lido di Camaiore!

No change in situation up front as the same teams continue to lead the way.

25km to go

We're getting there!

All the sprinters still up there in the peloton. It would've taken some doing to get dropped on this stage.

Madis Mikhels (Intermarché-Wanty) crashes and gets a bike change.

15km to go

Alpecin, Lidl, Bora, DSM all still up front.

A look at the peloton as we close in on the finish.

Arkéa and Jayco also up there.

11km to go

Finally the pace is going up...

Łukasz Owsian (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) crashes in the peloton. He's the only man to hit the deck.

8km to go

Alpecin, Groupama, Bora, Lidl, Bahrain, DSM all clustered up front.

A very fast pace now and it's strung out at the rear of the peloton.

No further falls despite a series of twists and turns.

5km to go

Arkéa-B&B Hotels lead it into the final 5km around a sharp right-hander.

Arnaud De Lie is among the riders at the back of the peloton and it looks like he won't be involved in the final sprint.

4km to go

All safe around another tight left-right chicane.

Israel-Premier Tech moving up with Pascal Ackermann.

DSM still on the left side of the road as they have been for a while.

Sam Bennett's Decathlon AG2R also move up.

2km to go

All still OK into the final kilometres.

Here come Tudor Pro Cycling at the front!

It's messy up front as several teams battle for position.

Tudor in charge with several men.

1km to go

Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease A Bike coming up.

It's lined out at the front and some sprinters are quite far back.

Visma lead it out for the sprint.

Decathlon, Tudor, Bora take over.

Van Poppel hits the wind with De Kleijn not far behind

Arvid De Kleijn hits the wind late on!

He jumps off the wheel and nobody can stop him.

De Kleijn had Pithie and Groenewegen behind but he held the pair off to take his first WorldTour victory!

De Kleijn crosses the line to take the win.

Laurence Pithie is the new race leader despite being tied on time with Pedersen and Kooij.

The New Zealander is in great form so far in 2024, having won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and been in the decisive break at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne last week.

More on Pithie's fine start to the season from Belgium...

Pithie hails 'really positive' day on the attack at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

21-year-old New Zealander spends second cobbled Classic of his career on the offensive with Van Aert, Mohoric

Meanwhile, De Kleijn's first WorldTour win is also the first at that level for his team Tudor Pro Cycling.

A look back at that dash to the line.

Paris-Nice: Arvid de Kleijn wins stage 2 bunch sprint

Pithie takes over race lead on strange day in Paris-Nice

Here's what De Kleijn said after the finish...

"I think I've been close a couple of times and I was chasing a WorldTour victory. It's nice to grab it like this. Everybody could see it was a great team performance," said De Kleijn before crediting experienced teammate Matteo Trentin, who was brought into the Tudor setup for 2024.

"He [Trentin] knew exactly what to do. He said we had to stay calm until the end and then he did an amazing pull and then I have the two Dutchies in front of me and they did an incredible job. Today was all in for me and it was nice to finish it off.

"I was the last 200 metres and I was a little bit boxed in by my own teammate. I screamed to the left so he opened up and I could go to the wheel of Van Poppel and I came with speed and kept it to the line."

That's all from us at Paris-Nice today. Back tomorrow for more action from stage 3 of the race!