Immediately after crossing the finish line in Montargis after 187 kilometres, Kanter slapped his hand against his helmet in disbelief. He had just won a race at WorldTour level for the first time. It was his third victory overall. It was by far the most important. "To win such a prestigious race - I've been waiting a long time for this," said the Cottbus native in the winner's interview. "It's unbelievable. I didn't expect it today after feeling really bad yesterday and having to cope with a few setbacks in recent weeks."
However, Kanter had already shown good form at the start of the season in Mallorca, finishing second in the Trofeo Palma at the end of January. But now it was once again enough to make it to the top. Partly because he and his rider kept their wits about them in a chaotic finale with many changes of direction. "Two kilometres before the finish, we lost a lot of positions with Mike Teunissen. But he stayed calm and got me back into a good position at the last roundabout," said Kanter. In Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling Team) and Vito Braet (Lotto Intermarché), two of the favourites for the stage win were slowed down at precisely that point and robbed of all chances of victory.
However, Kanter came through and took the opportunity to strike against the reduced competition. However, he also had the opening winner Luke Lamperti (EF Education - EasyPost) under control, who only finished fifth but was able to defend the yellow jersey as overall leader.
The team time trial is on the programme tomorrow in France.
Paris-Nice 2026 - Results of the 2nd stage
Stage 2: Épône - Montargis
Paris-Nice 2026: Stage 2, Épône - Montargis
| Rnk. | Riders | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | XDS Astana Team | 04:25:07 |
| 2 | Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe | +00:00:00 |
| 3 | Soudal Quick-Step | +00:00:00 |
| 4 | INEOS Grenadiers | +00:00:00 |
| 5 | EF Education - EasyPost | +00:00:00 |
| 6 | Tudor Pro Cycling Team | +00:00:00 |
How the 2nd stage of Paris-Nice 2026 went
The two protagonists of the first day's breakaway group, Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) and Mathis Le Berre (TotalEnergies), were once again the men who livened up the day with their fight for the mountains jersey on stage 2. Jasha Sütterlin (Team Jayco AlUla) rode the first attack shortly after the start, but later dropped back, as did Le Berre's team-mate Matteo Vercher, who had initially gone on the offensive alongside Pedersen and Le Berre.
Once again, however, the lead that the peloton gave the breakaway remained short. It was never more than two minutes. But that wasn't in the interest of the leading duo either, from which Pedersen won all three mountain classifications in the 3rd category and thus defended his mountain jersey. After that, the duo more or less rolled out. 60 kilometres before the finish, they were dropped by the peloton.
So, rather surprisingly, the intermediate sprint could still be ridden out of the peloton. And this is where Juan Ayuso (Lidl - Trek) proved to be active, fooling one or two sprinters, finishing second and thus securing four bonus seconds, which could become important in the course of the tour. After that, however, the pace was completely lost again. And whenever that happens, the risk of crashing increases. And so it was this time too: 32 kilometres before the finish there was a crash in the peloton, with Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) among those on the ground. In the end, however, everyone was able to continue.
With 20 kilometres to go, it was Daan Hoole (Decathlon CMA CGM) who took heart and attacked. He managed to gain up to 30 seconds before NSN and Movistar hesitantly joined the chase. However, the Dutchman was caught under the Devil's Lap. And so they sprinted after all. Kanter proved to be the strongest.
