The surprise at the end of boredom. While we were expecting Olav Kooij, Mads Pedersen or Arnaud Démare, it was Arvid De Kleijn who won the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice in a sprint. In Montargis, at the end of a contested stage on a senator’s train, the Dutchman from the Tudor took advantage of the hard work of his teammates to beat Laurence Pithie and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), the 12th victory of his career. With his 2nd place, the New Zealander from Groupama-FDJ seizes the leader’s yellow jersey, accumulating places ahead of Olav Kooij and Mads Pedersen, all three at the same time
This is a well-paid invitation. For its first participation in Paris-Nice, Tudor did not take long to reassure the organizers in the idea that they had made the right choice by inviting them to the event. After a first top 10 in Les Mureaux on Sunday, the Swiss team this time won the first World Tour success in its history, in the streets of Montargis. On the only stage of the week dedicated exclusively to sprinters, we first had to overcome the boredom and slowness of a stage contested at a very leisurely pace (37.9km/h on average) for such a flat route. But who better than Tudor to overcome a standing stage?
Pithie, a revealing yellow
Spared by the few falls (the Intermarché-Wanty Mihkels or the Arkéa-B&B Hotels Owsian and Grondin) linked to the nervousness which punctuated this second stage, the Swiss team was discreet for a long time before coming out at the best of times, 2 kilometers from the finish, just before the road narrows again. Perfectly placed, Arvid De Kleijn also trapped several of the favorites of the day, too far away afterwards, like the winner of the day before Olav Kooij (17th), Fabio Jakobsen (DSM-firmenich, 28th) or Arnaud Démare ( Arkéa-B&B Hotels, 13th), who lacked teammates in the final and got stuck on the right of the road.
Full center, the Dutchman from the Tudor had all the freedom to show his power, after being magnificently dropped 150m from the line by Maikel Zijlkaard, and finally offers himself his first victory in the World Tour and this season, after his numerous second places since the start of the year.
Revelation at the start of 2024, Laurence Pithie confirms that he is one of the nuggets of the sprint with a new podium, just ahead of Dylan Groenewegen, who started too far. The New Zealander from Groupama-FDJ took advantage of the six seconds of bonuses to take the leader’s yellow jersey. Equal in time with Mads Pedersen (8th) and Kooij, Pithie is ahead of the Dane and the Dutchman in total places and it is therefore Groupama-FDJ which will start in last position tomorrow, during a race against the -team show which should shake up the general classification.