2021 Paris-Nice Stage 2 Results & Recap
Stage 2 of the 2021 Paris-Nice is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Bols sprints to victory in Amilly\nBy Clara Beard
In a similar fashion to Sam Bennett's win a day prior, Cees Bol (Team DSM) showed the peloton a clean pair of heels today in Amilly, winning the second stage of Paris Nice ahead of Denmark’s Mads Pedersen, who moved up to second on GC.
Michael Matthews (Bike Exchange) had a busy day as well, sprinting to third in the finale, and collecting enough intermediate bonifications to jump into the leader's spot before the race against the clock tomorrow. He now sits four seconds ahead of the former world champion, Pedersen.
"I came here to try everything I could," Matthews said. "With the breakaways not really going, it gave us opportunities to go for the intermediate sprints, take seconds back and take the jersey. I knew I wasn’t the fastest guy here so I tried to position well and sprint as best I could and in the end today I was third. There was a time bonus for the third place and so I got it and will get to wear it tomorrow in the time trial. We’ll see how my time trial goes and how long I can keep it."
Yesterday's stage winner, Sam Bennett could only manage fifth place after the technical sprint finish.
"I stayed waiting, but it was super hard as we had a few crashes," Bennett said. "I waited too long, even after the corner. I had really good legs, but I waited too long. I thought it was longer after the last corner. That’s sprinting. Sometimes you get boxed in and you can’t do anything. It’s unfortunate, because I had very good legs, and I would have liked to get another today."
It was a quiet start to stage 2. The sun was shining, but the temperatures didn't reach double digits the entire 188km ride.
Belgians Sander Armee (Qhubeka) and Dries de Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) snuck away from the peloton around 20km into the stage, and held around three minutes until crosswinds came out to play at kilometre 80. Trek Segafredo and Quick Step charged to the front to take advantage of the wind direction, and the leaders were eventually caught because of the acceleration.
The peloton stayed huddled together for the rest of the journey toward Amilly, save for the intermediate sprint points, where Matthews gained enough seconds to sit level with Bennett on GC before the sprint final.
The pressure mounted as the kilometres clicked away, and with 10km to go, Trek started to wind it up for Pedersen. Bols took advantage of a perfect lead-out by his Team DSM and won by almost a bike length. \n \n
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