Summary 2nd stage Paris-Nice 2017: a split peloton stage which ends in a sprint won by Colbrelli

Monday 06 March 2017 at 16h41

The second stage of Paris-Nice 2017 saw the peloton being divide into several groups, because of the high speed and the effect of the weather conditions, but despite the fact that a group of 5 riders survived from the big peloton leading the race since the start of the stage, the stage finally finished in a bunch sprint which took place in Amilly and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) won it!

The summary of the second stage of Paris-Nice 2017: Rochefort-en-Yvelines > Amilly

Just after noon, the peloton of 171 riders of the 75th edition of Paris-Nice started the second stage of the race and this stage again almost completely took place in the cold and under the rain.

While approaching the Côte des Granges-le-Roi, the only difficulty of the day - of the 3rd category -, a group of 9 riders got away from the peloton, including the leader of the King of the Mountains classification, Romain Hardy (Fortuneo Vital Concept) and that's how the polka dot jersey got first on top of this climb.

WHile these 9 riders were taken back at kilometer 28, the peloton was than broken into no less than 6 groups because of the wind and of the high speed early in this stage. In the first group we had about fifty riders, including the yellow jersey Arnaud Démare (FDJ), the first rider next to him in the general classification Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), but also the favorites Richie Porte (BMC Racing Team) and Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo). We also found John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) in this group, who won the intermediate sprint in Pussay.

When the group accellerated again, a new split occurs and Alberto Contador and Richie Porte then end up in the second respectively the third group. About sixty kilometers from the finish, the group with Contador was still at 35 seconds behind the leading group which then contained 24 riders, while the group with Porte was over 4 minutes back! When the group with Contador merges with the leading group, 6 riders decided to give it a chance and the riders leading the race were Sven Erik Byström (Team Katusha Alpecin), Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal), Maarten Wynants (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), Marc Sarreau (FDJ), Geoffrey Soupe (Cofidis, solutions crédits) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence KTM), who got company a few kilometers further from Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors). In the battle, the group however loses Marc Sarreau with a flat tire but also Geoffrey Soupe, and at 40 kilometers from the finish these 5 leading riders still were one minute ahead of the first peloton.

La pluie est de retour pour les 30 derniers km. L'échappée peut-elle résister ? / It's raining again, can they make it? #ParisNice pic.twitter.com/goxNxMY8Mk
— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 6, 2017

About twenty kilometers from the finish, Philippe Gilbert decided to do a solo attack, but the Belgian champion was taken back a bit over 6 kilometers from the finish.

Despite several attempts in the final part of the stage, the victory was decided in a bunch sprint anyway, and in this game Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) turned out to be the fastest today, ahead of John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) and Arnaud Démare (FDJ).

The video summary of the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice 2017

The classifications of Paris-Nice 2017 after the second stage

Here are the classifications after today's stage:

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The classification of the 2nd stage Rochefort-en-Yvelines > Amilly

Here's the top 10 of this 2nd stage:

1/ Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) - 4h20'59"
2/ John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo)
3/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ)
4/ Dylan Groenewegen (Team LottoNL-Jumbo)
5/ Christophe Laporte (Cofidis, solutions crédits)
6/ Matti Breschel (Astana Pro Team)
7/ Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale)
8/ André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal)
9/ Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha Alpecin)
10/ Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence KTM)

General classification

In the general classification, Arnaud Démare (FDJ) settles in even a bit more as the leader by finishing 3rd in today's stage:

1/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ) - 7h43'28"
2/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - +0'06"
3/ Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) - +0'17"
4/ Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha Alpecin) - +0'19"
5/ Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Soudal)

Points classification

Arnaud Démare (FDJ) remains the leader in the points classification in which Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) now occupies the second place after this second stage:

1/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ) - 24 points
2/ Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) - 15 points
3/ John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) - 15 points
4/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - 14 points
5/ Philippe Gilbert (Quick-Step Floors) - 13 points

King of the Mountains classification

In these sprinters stages, Romain Hardy is rather alone at the top of the King of the Mountains classification, since he once again took the maximum number of points in today's stage:

1/ Romain Hardy (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) - 12 points
2/ Luke Rowe (Team Sky) - 2 points
3/ Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie) - 2 points
4/ Julien Simon (Cofidis, solutions crédits) - 2 points
5/ Kristijan Koren (Cannondale Drapac Professional Cycling Team) - 1 point

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Best young rider classification

Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) comfortably remains the leader of the best young riders classification, especially thanks to his performance yesterday:

1/ Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) - 7h43'34"
2/ Davide Formolo (Cannondale Drapac Professional Cycling Team) - +1'12"
3/ Simon Yates (Orica-Scott)
4/ Sven Erik Byström (Team Katusha Alpecin) - +2'05"
5/ Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-Scott) - +3'04"

photos © A.S.O./Alex Broadway

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice | Paris-Nice 2017