Paris-Nice: Arvid de Kleijn wins stage 2 bunch sprint

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(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)

Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Professional Biking) powered to new heights together with his first WorldTour victory on stage 2 of Paris-Good. The Dutchman outsprinted a prime area of quick males to take the most important win of his profession and of his staff’s profession.

That is the Swiss staff’s first victory at WorldTour stage in simply their second season as a ProTeam. An absence of wind on the 177km route led to a primarily sluggish day of racing from Thoiry to Montargis, with the Swiss staff getting the quick run into the end proper and positioning their sprinter in prime place for the important thing duo of roundabouts within the final 2km.

Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) continued his sensible begin to the season with second on the stage forward of Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) and took six extra bonus seconds, however couldn’t come round De Kleijn.

The 21-year-old Kiwi moved into the yellow GC chief’s jersey due to his bonus time features forward of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), with the trio all on the identical time.

“I believe I have been shut a few occasions and I used to be chasing a WorldTour victory. It is good to seize it like this. Everyone might see it was a fantastic staff efficiency,” mentioned De Kleijn earlier than crediting skilled teammate Matteo Trentin, who was introduced into the Tudor setup for 2024.

“He [Trentin] knew precisely what to do. He mentioned we needed to keep calm till the top after which he did an incredible pull after which I’ve the 2 Dutchies in entrance of me they usually did an unbelievable job.

“At this time was all in for me and it was good to complete it off.”

De Kleijn was virtually caught out when Danny van Poppel opened the dash however ensured final man Maikel Zijlaard was out of his means so he might latch onto his compatriot’s wheel.

“I used to be the final 200 and I used to be a little bit bit boxed in by my very own teammate. I screamed to the left so he opened up and I might go to the wheel of Van Poppel and I got here with pace and saved it to the road,” De Kleijn mentioned.

This marks an enormous step for Fabian Cancellara’s Tudor, who’re set to experience their first Grand Tour later within the season on the Giro d’Italia.

“We’re making massive steps and I am additionally personally making steps yearly. I am a little bit bit older than the remainder nevertheless it’s good to see I can nonetheless make enhancements,” mentioned the 29-year-old.

Within the combat for the general GC, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) moved onto the identical time as Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and simply two seconds behind Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) due to gaining two bonus seconds on the intermediate dash.

Tomorrow’s stage 3 will present the primary massive shakeup for the general standings with a staff time trial beginning and ending in Auxerre.

It is the second in as a few years at Paris-Good and Evenepoel can be seeking to lead his sturdy Soudal-QuickStep squad to victory forward of different prime favorite Primož Roglič (Bora Hansgrohe).

The way it unfolded

Day two on the Race to the Solar was designed for the wind to open up the racing on uncovered roads, however threats of early echelon motion had been dampened by the wind not enjoying ball.

Assaults had been made for the second day operating by Jonas Rutsch (EF Training – EasyPost) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) in pursuit of KOM factors, however there was no menace of splits forming.

By the top of the day, the Frenchman had moved into the lead of the polka-dot competitors forward of Rutsch with assist from teammate Pierre Latour over the second categorised climb, the Côte de Villeconin (0.8 km at 7%).

Between the combat for KOM factors got here a solo assault from Pascal Eenkhoorn (Lotto Dstny), however this got here to nothing and he was quickly again within the bunch.

With the combat for the mountains classification carried out and no actual wind to work with, all the pieces within the peloton calmed fully for the following couple of hours. For some time, the peloton was led by a lone Koen Bouwman (Visma-Lease a Bike) whereas they awaited the dash end.

The 60km to-go level marked a reignition of racing within the peloton because the intermediate dash and bonus seconds approached.

An aggressive combat for the bonuses was arrange by Lidl-Trek, nevertheless it was Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) who took the utmost six accessible to take them away from any of Primož Roglič’s GC rivals. Pedersen moved stage on time with race chief Kooij after securing 4 bonus seconds and helped Mattias Skjelmose to 2 in third.

A 90-degree flip would comply with the dash level in Puiseaux, that means a change in wind course from a headwind right into a crosswind however with wind speeds nonetheless low, calm returned within the bunch till the dash trains started their cost for house with 12km to go.

Each flip within the remaining 10km was raced for with Arkéa-B&B Accommodations and DSM-Firmenich PostNL greatest positioned till Trentin charged to the entrance with 2.3km to go and put Tudor into the driving seat.

This moved the motion from the left-hand facet of the highway to the precise and washed a lot of the prime dash groups again into the bunch, with Kooij and Fabio Jakobsen amongst these shedding out.

The ultimate kilometre was led by Visma-Lease a Bike however with out the race chief and their sprinter anyplace close to the entrance. Van Poppel launched first earlier than he was simply handed by a flying De Kleijn and Pithie with the Dutchman securing Tudor’s first victory of the season after impressing all through the UAE Tour.