2020 Paris-Nice Stage 2 Results & Recap
Stage 2 of the 2020 Paris-Nice is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Nizzolo beats the odds to take victory in Chalette-sur-Loing
Giacomo Nizzolo played his cards right to upset a dominant Bora-hansgrohe team in the closing kilometres of today’s challenging 166.5km stage from Chevreuse to Chalette-sur-Loing. The Italian sprinter came from Pasqual Ackermann’s (Bora-hasgrohe) wheel to sprint to his second huge win of the season, the first of which was in January at Tour Down Under in Australia.
“It was really stressful today as we didn’t expect the rain so it was even harder to have it,” Nizzolo said. “I’m feeling good since the beginning of the season. We had very good results with the team and they did a good job for me today. What can I say except that I’m looking forward to the next stages. I knew Bora-Hansgrohe had to pull for the GC so I tried to save as much energy as I could and in the end, of course, Ackermann was the sprinter to watch and I took his wheel. I hope we can continue like this.”\nAckermann held on for second, while Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) took third on the day.
Maximilian Schachmann (BORA-Hansgrohe) held onto his lead in the yellow jersey classification after a hard day in the rain and wind. He is sitting 15 seconds ahead of stage winner, Nizzolo, and 21 seconds in front of Stuyven.
“I really need to thank my team who helped me all day,” Schachmann said. “It was hard as we didn’t expect the rain and in the end it was so hot. They brought me to the front a few times and then in the big action, Peter (Sagan) made such a huge effort to spit up the front group. We had a great chance today, we tried to make the lead-out with Felix but well, it shows how well we work together. We did a great job. It was a perfect situation and an even better situation for the GC I guess. But I saw EF Pro Cycling did a good job too as Sergio Higuita was there. In the mountain he will be one of the best competitors.
On paper, it seemed like another normal day out on the saddle for the 133 riders who took the start, however, echelons and crashes marred the chances of GC hopefuls Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step), who lost a minute and 25 seconds after Quintana crashed and Alaphilippe flatted in the crucial moments of the stage and couldn’t recover their losses.
At the start, KOM leader Jonathan Hivert (Direct Energie) and Jose Manuel Diaz (Nippo Delko Provence) attacked from the gun. Hivert on the hunt for more KOM points to pad his lead. Over the course of the route, he gained max points over each of the three classified climbs bringing his total to 20 points. His job for the day complete, Hivert and Diaz fell back into the peloton with 66km left.
As the finale crept closer, the pace flew up when Team Groupama-FDJ, BORA – hansgrohe and Trek-Segafredo took to the front, dropping Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Sam Bennett (Deceucninck-Quick Step) Julian Alaphilippe, who punctured.
The peloton splintered, leaving 35 riders including Schachmann, Sergio Higuita, Peter Sagan, Thibaut Pinot, Pedersen and Nibali.
Working for Schachmann and Ackermann, Sagan surged in the last 10km, once again splitting what was left of the group to set up Ackermann for the sprint. But the plan was foiled when Nizzolo popped out of the Bora train to surpass Ackermann’s efforts. \n
Get our full coverage of the Paris-Nice and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
