Second stage and second sprint at Paris-Nice: after the inaugural victory of Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a bike), another Dutchman won on Monday in Montargis. Well launched by his Tudor teammates, Arvid De Kleijn won ahead of Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) and Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco – Alula).
Former Swiss champion Fabian Cancellara couldn’t dream of a better way to thank the organizers of Paris-Nice for inviting his young team created in 2022 and which has been in the second UCI division since last year. With a stage victory on the second day, the contract is already fulfilled, especially since it is the first time that his Swiss colors have won in a World Tour level event.
With eleven successes last year, six of which were thanks to Arvid De Kleijn, whose record was seriously enriched last season at Milan-Turin, the Tour of Germany and the ZLM Tour in particular, the Tudor team continues its success growth.
At 29 years old, the Dutch sprinter is on the rise since his four second places on the UAE Tour (three times) and the AlUla Tour, each time behind Tim Merlier. On Monday, he was the fastest in the massive sprint announced after nearly 180 relatively flat kilometers between Thoiry and Montargis.
First victory on the World Tour
“I’ve been looking for a victory in the World Tour for a while and I’ve been close on several occasions,” De Kleijn said after the finish. It’s good that things happened this way because this victory is the result of fantastic teamwork. Matteo (Trentin) said we had to stay calm until the end. Then he made a superb acceleration himself. My two Dutch teammates (Zijlaard and Pluimers) also did a great job. »
“I’ve been looking for a victory in the World Tour for a while, I’ve been close on several occasions”
Trapped (“by my own teammates”) just 200 meters from the line, he was able to reestablish the bar in time: “I shouted for them to go left, which opened the door. This allowed me to sprint in Van Poppel’s wheel. So I was able to keep my speed all the way to the line. »
Olav Kooij, winner of the first stage on Sunday, did not take part in the sprint, leaving first place in the general classification to the protégé of Marc Madiot, the New Zealand sprinter Laurence Pithie (21 years old) who, thanks to the bonuses, will carry the yellow jersey on Tuesday during the third stage, a 26.9 kilometer team time trial around Auxerre.
