Dylan Goenewegen powers ahead on stage 2 uphill Sprint

In the final 600m uphill sprint to the line Dylan Goenewegen (LottoNLJumbo) took the stage ahead of of Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), while André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) took third

Today’s second stage of Paris – Nice was totally flat. Not a single KOM doted the 187.5 kilometers from Orsonville to Vierzon, which were purely earmarked for sprinters. Because there was also not a lot of wind forecasted, the chances for a bunch sprint were up to nearly 100%.

It seemed like also among the riders nobody really believed in a chance for a break today. Therefore, they took it easy, just covering 33 kilometers in the first hour. Finally, after more than 90k a group of six riders went away from the bunch. But the peloton was not happy with the composition of the group and didn’t allow them to open a proper gap until they did split up and just two riders stayed away from the main bunch. The duo was no threat and stayed in front until 8k to go. Then Groupama-FDJ and Lotto-Jumbo started to prepare a sprint finish, 

In the final 600m uphill sprint to the line Dylan Goenewegen took the stage ahead of of Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), while André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) took third.

On GC Arnaud Demare is still in the lead, but more interesting is the plethora of GC favorites in the top 15.

Tomorrow's Stage 3 is the longest stage of the race, stage three features another flat parcours ahead of a finishing loop around the town of Châtel-Guyon which should again see the sprinters prosper.

VIDEO: 2018 Paris-Nice Stage 2 Highlights

2018 Paris-Nice Stage 2 Top Ten

1 Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 4:51:31 
2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors   
3 André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal   
4 Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb   
5 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ   
6 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb   
7 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) UAE Team Emirates   
8 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team   
9 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo   
10 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 

2018 Paris-Nice GC Top 15 after Stage 2

1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 7:58:57 
2 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:07 
3 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:08 
4 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:10 
5 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:00:13 
6 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal   
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:15 
8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott   
9 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida   
10 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida   
11 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team   
12 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team   
13 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo   
14 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky   
15 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Movistar Team