Huge success for the Swiss second-division Tudor Pro Cycling Team. Sprinter Arvid de Kleijn has won the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice 2024. The 29-year-old Dutchman relegated Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) and Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) to second and third place after 179 kilometres between Thoiry and Montargis. The best German was Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) in ninth place.
Paris-Nice 2024: Yellow jersey changes hands
There was a change at the top of the overall standings. Pithie takes the yellow jersey from Olav Kooij, the winner of stage 1, thanks to his second place and the time bonus in Montargis.
"On the last 200 metres, I was a bit built in by a team-mate. I shouted to the left. He opened up the gap for me. Then I was able to hang onto the rear wheel of a Bora rider - I think van Poppel. I rode past at high speed and was able to pull it through to the finish line," said Arvid de Kleijn in the official winner's interview, describing the sprint to the finish.
Paris-Nice 2024 results: The top 10 of stage 2
- Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) 4:41:02
- Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:00
- Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Gerben Thijssen (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
- Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:00
- Dries van Gestel (TotalEnergies) +0:00
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Matteo Sobrero (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
How the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice 2024 went
After the start, Jonas Rutsch (EF Education EasyPost) and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) pulled away from the peloton. Rutsch initially won the first mountain classification of the 3rd category and extended his lead in this special classification. Both riders were then caught up again, but fought for the points again in the second mountain classification. Burgaudeau secured this, while Rutsch was only third behind Burgaudeau's team-mate Pierre Latour. Although this was also a 3rd category, the points were doubled here, meaning that the German had to hand over the mountain jersey to the Frenchman.
The peloton only really picked up speed again towards the intermediate sprint. This was won by Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) ahead of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and his team-mate Mattias Skjelmose. There were a few crashes in the finale, but they were minor. The classification favourites around Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) were not involved.
The sprinters' trains formed up over the last three kilometres. Van Poppel opened the sprint extremely early. The Dutchman's legs fell asleep in the final metres. Arvid de Kleijn was completely different. The professional from the Tudor Pro Cycling Team was launched by his team-mate Maikel Zijlaard, passed van Poppel and secured the first win of the season for the Swiss team.
