Defending champion Maximilian Schachmann has suffered another setback in the Paris-Nice long-distance cycling race.
The German champion from Team Bora-hansgrohe lost 1:29 minutes on the second stage from Auffargis to Orléans to other top riders and stage winner Fabio Jakobsen from the Netherlands. Schachmann, who won the traditional race in 2020 and 2021, had already lost 42 seconds to top favourite Primoz Roglic from Slovenia on the first stage alone. Frenchman Christophe Laporte leads the overall standings ahead of his team-mates Wout van Aert from Belgium and Roglic.
The 159-kilometre stage was characterised by windy sections. Around 70 kilometres before the finish, the peloton split into several parts after Roglic's Jumbo-Visma team stepped up the pace, with Schachmann being left behind and trailing by over two minutes at one point. Although the group around the Berlin was initially able to halve the gap, they were unable to compensate for it in the fast finale.
This means that Schachmann goes into the next stages with a deficit of over two minutes on Roglic alone, which is almost impossible to make up. On Tuesday, the race will cover 191 kilometres from Vierzon to Dun-le-Palestel, with the finale in particular being very demanding. The race ends on Sunday with a stage around Nice.
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