Auffargis – Orléans – 159 Km

1 JAKOBSEN Fabio NED QUICK-STEP ALPHA VINYL TEAM 03:22:54
2 VAN AERT Wout BEL JUMBO – VISMA 00:00
3 LAPORTE Christophe FRA JUMBO – VISMA 00:00
4 MEZGEC Luka SLO TEAM BIKEEXCHANGE-JAYCO 00:00
5 PEDERSEN Mads DEN TREK – SEGAFREDO 00:00
6 STUYVEN Jasper BEL TREK – SEGAFREDO 00:00
7 MOZZATO Luca ITA B&B HOTELS – KTM 00:00
8 MOLANO BENAVIDES Juan Sebastian COL UAE TEAM EMIRATES 00:00
9 NAESEN Oliver BEL AG2R CITROEN TEAM 00:00
10 BOL Cees NED TEAM DSM 00:00

Gesamt:

1 LAPORTE Christophe FRA JUMBO – VISMA 07:11:15
2 VAN AERT Wout BEL JUMBO – VISMA 00:05
3 ROGLIČ Primož SLO JUMBO – VISMA 00:11
4 LATOUR Pierre FRA TOTALENERGIES 00:36
5 ŠTYBAR Zdeněk CZE QUICK-STEP ALPHA VINYL TEAM 00:38
6 PEDERSEN Mads DEN TREK – SEGAFREDO 00:39
7 STUYVEN Jasper BEL TREK – SEGAFREDO 00:39
8 SENECHAL Florian FRA QUICK-STEP ALPHA VINYL TEAM 00:39
9 COQUARD Bryan FRA COFIDIS 00:39
10 VLASOV Aleksandr BORA – HANSGROHE 00:39
11 O’CONNOR Ben AUS AG2R CITROEN TEAM 00:39
12 KRAGH ANDERSEN Soren DEN TEAM DSM 00:39
13 QUINTANA Nairo COL TEAM ARKEA – SAMSIC 00:39
14 SANCHEZ Luis Leon ESP BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 00:39
15 HAIG Jack AUS BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 00:39

Aleksandr Vlasov rückt bei Paris-Nizza Windchaos in der Gesamtwertung weiter auf

Die zweite Etappe von Paris-Nizza führte die Profis heute über flache 159,2 Kilometer von Auffargis nach Orléans. Mit viel Seitenwind und immer wieder daraus resultierenden Windstaffeln ein enorm anspruchsvoller und stressiger Tag. BORA – hansgrohe schaffte mit Sam Bennett, Aleksandr Vlasov und Ryan Mullen den Sprung in die erste Gruppe. Im finalen Sprint war F. Jakobsen am schnellsten und holte sich den Sieg. In der Gesamtwertung konnte sich Aleksandr Vlasov auf den zehnten Rang verbessern.

Reaktionen im Ziel
„Gestern war es schon hart, heute war es nochmal härter. Der Seitenwind und die Windstaffel haben das Feld immer wieder zerrissen und wir mussten richtig arbeiten, um in der ersten Gruppe zu bleiben. Zwei mal konnte ich die Lücke wieder schließen und schaffte es so ohne Zeitverlust über die Ziellinie. Ich bin zufrieden mit meinem Tag hier, freue mich aber auf bergigeres Terrain in den nächsten Tagen.“ Aleksandr Vlasov

„Wieder ein harter und stressiger Tag hier bei Paris-Nizza. Lange Abschnitte mit Seitenwind haben das Rennen schwer gemacht und das Feld immer wieder auseinander gerissen. Aleksandr Vlasov hat eine super starke Leistung gezeigt heute. Er schaffte es mit der ersten Gruppe über die Ziellinie und verbesserte sich in der Gesamtwertung auf Rang zehn. Mit Sam Bennett sind wir zufrieden, seine Formkurve ist ansteigend und stimmt uns positiv. Im Finale fehlen im noch die letzten Prozent, hier sind wir aber zuversichtlich.“ Torsten Schmidt, Sportlicher Leiter

Jakobsen takes revenge through the wind

Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) took victory in Orléans, after an eventful stage 2 of Paris-Nice 2022. The first attacks of the day led to an intense battle through the wind as Jumbo-Visma tried to hurt their rivals again, on the day after their collective show of strength in Mantes-la-Ville. Monday’s fights finished with many victims: the two-time winner of Paris-Nice Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) all lost 1’29’’ on the line, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) dropped 9 minutes. But this time, Jakobsen sprinted to the win ahead of two riders from the Dutch squad, Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte, who retained the yellow jersey. Stage 3 will take the riders through more tricky challenges with a hilly course towards Dun-Le-Palestel on the eve of the time-trial.

The peloton leave Auffargis with 151 riders and two non-starters: Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) and Rudy Barbier (Israel-Premier Tech), who both struggled on stage 1. With the polka dot jersey on his shoulders, Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal) is eager to bring battle on the early climbs of the day. The British baroudeur is the first attacker of the day. He’s quickly followed by Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM), a threatening rival for the KOM standings, and another rider from Lotto Soudal, Philippe Gilbert.

Early skirmishes
Holmes leads the way to the top of the cat-3 ascents of the Côte des 17 tournants (km 9.6) and Côte de Choisel (km 18) to tighten his grip on the polka dots. Meanwhile, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) is caught up in an early crash. The Belgian champion changes his bike and returns to the bunch after some 10km of chase behind a peloton led by Trek-Segafredo, already trying to turn the race upside down on exposed roads.
Calm returns in the bunch and the attackers bring their lead up to 6’ as they travel through the plains of Beauce. The maximum gap is reached at km 65 (6’10’’). Then, the race explodes as the riders face new open roads exposed to crosswinds from the East.

High speeds and tension
Tension and the pace seriously increase. The peloton splits in three parts with some 85km to go while riders hit the deck. Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM) is forced to abandon. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) are caught behind.
Following their show of strength form day 1, Jumbo-Visma are among the most involved to split the bunch. Ineos Grenadiers and Trek-Segafredo also appear willing to hurt their rivals. Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) also take turns. The battle goes on for more than 30km, with more riders dropped due to crashes (Girmay, McNulty, Almeida…) or mechanicals (G. Martin, riding alongside the defending champion Schachmann).

Crosswinds, crosswinds and more crosswinds!
The early attackers are caught with 63km to go by a very reduced bunch, and more splits occur. Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) are among the riders dropped at that moment. They return to a 30-man front group 43km away from the finish line.
The pace drops a bit, allowing the chasers to get closer ahead of the final 20km. The second bunch, mostly led by Movistar for Garcia Cortina and Jorgenson, trail by 25’’, while the gap to Schachmann and Martin drops down to 1’10’’ after it went over two minutes during the stage.

Final attacks

Stefan Bissegger (EF Education EasyPost) launches a new attack with 14km to go, but the yellow jersey Christophe Laporte reacts and everyone follow. The Swiss powerhouse goes again with 5km to go. He manages to open a gap of 5’’ but Fabio Jakobsen still had three teammates to reel in Bissegger with 1km to go.
Laporte surged to the front with Van Aert right on his wheel inside the final kilometre. But Jakobsen’s speed granted him victory in front of the two Jumbo-Visma riders. Laporte still retains the yellow jersey and Roglic has won more time on rivals such as Martin, Schachmann, McNulty, Almeida, Gaudu…