After a long breakaway led by Yoan Offredo (FDJ), Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Tony Gallopin (Cofidis), the second stage of Paris-Nice 2011 finished in a bunch sprint. This sprint was won by the New Zealander Greg Henderson (Team Sky).

The summary of the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice 2011

A bit after noon, the peloton counting 175 head started from Montfort-l'Amaury under a shining sun (Paris-Nice is nicknamed the race to the sun but nowadays the sun is present right from the start!). Indeed, Martin Velits (HTC-Highroad) didn't take the start after his fall yesterday.

Contrary to yesterday when the start of the stage was quite calm, Yoann Offredo (FDJ) decided this wouldn't be the case today and attacked right from the start. In company of Maxime Bouet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Tony Gallopin (Cofidis), the three riders quickly created a more important gap, up to 5 minutes after 57 kilometers in the race.

At that time David Moncoutié, who was the leader of the Cofidis team, decided to abandon the race due to knee problems. The winner of the Tour Med preferred to save the rest of his season instead of continuing in this Paris-Nice.

At the sprint in Pussay Tony Gallopin crosses the line first, ahead of Offredo and Bouet. The peloton crosses the same line 3'50" later and the gap continued to go down from there. The rider who initiated the breakaway, Yoann Offredo, decided to give up there and dropped back to the peloton. The leading duo which remained got wings again and Maxime Bouet and Tony Gallopin continue to extend their gap. Indeed, it goes up to 6'15" in the feeding zone in Pithiviers-le-Vieil.

While the gap between the leading duo and the peloton is playing yoyo, Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Saxo Bank-Sungard) gets hit by a motor, falls and has to abandon the race.

In the second intermediate sprint in Varennes-Changy the two leading riders decide not to battle for the points and the bonus seconds and Tony Gallopin naturally takes the points ahead of Bouet. Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) however cleverly uses this sprint to take 1 bonus second by sprinting ahead of the peloton and thus comfort his place in the general classification.

Fränk Schleck (Team Leopard-Trek) falls a bit later at the back of the peloton but thanks to Bruno Pires, Wouter Weylandt and Brice Feillu who wait for the rider from Luxembourg, the riders of Team Leopard-Trek quickly get back to the peloton.

At 39 kilometers from the finish, the peloton gets back to the leading duo, not by taking them back as they wanted to but simply because the railway crossing is closed. After having seized the occasion for a pee break, the peloton is in a hurry to leave and once the leading duo leaves it ... almost respects the initial gap!

A few kilometers further, Tony Gallopin decided to follow Offredo's example and Maxime Bouet is thus alone ahead of the peloton. After several falls in the peloton, Maxime Bouet is finally taken back and at about thirty kilometers from the finish, the peloton is going through Châtillon-Coligny in a single line.

Apart from an acceleration in the peloton, nothing special happens until 2 kilometers from the finish when Luis Léon Sanchez gets a flat tyre. This flat tyre doesn't really have any consequences because since he got it in the last 3 kilometers, the Spanish rider will get the same time as the peloton in the stage classification.

Team HTC-Highroad is than leading the peloton in order to get ready for a bunch sprint and Thomas De Gendt is also ahead. Team Sky takes over from the American team and finally Greg Henderson (Team Sky) takes away the sprint.

The classifications after the second stage of Paris-Nice 2011

The stage classification

Here's the top 5 of this second stage:

1/ Greg Henderson (Team Sky) - 5h00'56"
2/ Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad)
3/ Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha Team)
4/ Heinrich Haussler (Team Garmin-Cervélo)
5/ Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)

The general classification

The lead of the general classification remains unchanged after this second stage of Paris-Nice 2011 with Thomas De Gendt still in yellow:

1/ Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) - 9h05'48"
2/ Gregory Henderson (Team Sky) - +0'04"
3/ Jérémy Roy (FDJ) - +0'07"
4/ Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) - +0'08"
5/ Tony Gallopin (Cofidis, le crédit en ligne)

The photos of the second stage of Paris-Nice 2011

You'll find a selection of 80 photos of the start of the second Paris-Nice 2011 stage in Montfort l'Amaury by clicking here.

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice 2011 | Paris-Nice

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