Mar 06, 2023 at 4:44 PMUpdate: 2 minutes ago
Olav Kooij just failed to win the second stage in Paris-Nice on Monday. The Dutchman from Jumbo-Visma was narrowly beaten in the sprint by Mads Pedersen, who also captured the leader’s jersey. Tadej Pogacar ran out on Jonas Vingegaard again.
The 21-year-old Kooij came up later in the sprint, but he just couldn’t push his wheel in front of Pedersen’s and finished second. Magnus Cort completed the podium. The Dutch Marijn van den Berg and Cees Bol finished in seventh and eighth place.
In the last kilometer before the line there was a crash in the peloton, which meant that Arnaud De Lie could not participate in the bunch sprint. Pedersen escaped the dance and booked his second win of the season. Kooij was second twice earlier this year.
In the first stage, victory went to Tim Merlier on Sunday. The Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step won the bunch sprint with force majeure and also took the leader’s jersey. Now he finished fourteenth and that was not enough to keep his lead.
There were still bonus seconds to be earned with 13 kilometers to go. Vingegaard did not interfere in the battle. Pogacar, his competitor for the overall victory, does. The Slovenian crossed the line first in the intermediate sprint and in this way earned six bonus seconds, just like on Sunday. He is now number two in the standings.
A special team time trial of 32.2 kilometers is scheduled for Tuesday. New rules apply in this race against time. Normally the time of the fourth rider is recorded, but now each driver gets his own time. This can have consequences for the ranking, if a leader drives away from his team in the final phase. The French WorldTour race will last until next Sunday.
Jonas Vingegaard was kept out of the wind all day by his teammates at Jumbo-Visma. Photo: Getty Images
Fan does not cause problems
The second stage of Paris-Nice took the peloton over 163.7 kilometers from Bazainville to Fontainebleau. The riders had to conquer two hills in an otherwise flat stage.
Jonas Gregaard Wilsly rode away from the peloton in the early stages of the race and was alone in the lead for a long time. After securing the KOM jersey, the Dane called it a day. At more than 50 kilometers from the finish he was overtaken by the peloton.
Fans were lurking during the stage through the French countryside. The peloton broke in two once, but towards the finish the riders reunited.
As expected, the second stage turned into a bunch sprint. Pedersen started early and was just fast enough to keep the onrushing Kooij from the stage victory.
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