The second stage of Paris-Nice between Thoiry and Montargis will not leave great memories. A peloton stretching and waiting for the last kilometers to get excited. Even the sprinters’ teams did not seem well motivated: none managed, in the last two kilometers, to correctly launch the train to bring their best sprinter to the front.
At the end of a disjointed sprint, it was the Dutchman Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), well helped by Matteo Trentin, who won ahead of the little New Zealand nugget from Groupama-FDJ, Laurence Pithie, and his compatriot Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla).
Upset at having missed out on victory, Pithie quickly found a smile again a few seconds after the line when he learned that he was donning the leader’s yellow jersey. With his improvement in second place, Laurence Pithie is nevertheless in the same time as the yellow jersey at the start on Monday morning, Olav Kooij (Visma – Lease a bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
But in terms of the number of finishing places since the start of the race, he is therefore the new leader. The third stage on Tuesday will offer the first major meeting for the general classification of “the race to the sun” with a 26.9 km team time trial in Auxerre.
Ranking of the 2nd stage:
1. Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), 04h41′02″
2. Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ), mt
3. Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), mt
General classification :
1. Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) 08h17′20′’
2. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) at 0″.
3. Olav Kooij (Visma Lease a Bike) at 0″.
