Dylan Groenewegen continues winning form on Paris-Nice stage two

Dylan Groenewegen continued his rise to prominence as one of the best sprinters in the world as the Dutchman won stage two of Paris-Nice. 

Image result for paris-nice 2018 stage two dylan groenewegen
Dylan Groenewegen takes his season tally to five wins
Photo credit: cyclingweekly.com
Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) - who won the opening classics race of the season, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, on 25 February - beat Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) and Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) with Phil Bauhau (Team Sunweb) and race leader Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) in fourth and fifth respectively.

 24-year-old Groenewegen - who claimed his first Tour de France stage win last season on the Champs-Elysees - is one of a flourishing new wave of sprinters under the age of 25 that first showed itself at last seasons Tour Down Under with Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) winning all four sprints against world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and continued at the Giro d'Italia, as 2016's omnium track world champion Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) dominated the old guard of Greipel and Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin) to win four sprints and the green points jersey.

The Race

After the chaos and crashes of yesterday, the peloton were understandably cautious, setting a relatively dawdling average speed of 38kmp/h on the 187km stage from Orsonville to Vierzon.

No breakaway established itself in the first half of the race, perhaps due to strong winds, allowing Demare to pick up maximum points at the intermediate sprint.

With fewer than 100km to go a breakaway did eventually form, with the ever present escapee Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) joined by Manuele Boaro (UAE Team Emirates), Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo), Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Oliver Naesen (AG2R) and Anthony Delaplace (Fortuneo-Samsic).

The second intermediate sprint fell just 12km before the finish, and while Machado and Boaro picked up bonus seconds as the only remaining breakaway riders, Julian Alaphilippe leaped from the peloton to claim the final bonus second to gain two places on the general classification.

The break was caught with 4km remaining, as Groupama-FDJ and Quick-Step Floors ramped up the pace to set up their respective sprinters.

Viviani was set up at the front through the flamme rouge but his train fell apart inside 900 metres as the third man lost the wheel on the final right-hand bend. This left Dutch champion, Ramon Sinkeldam (Groupama-FDJ), to forge ahead for Demare but Groenewegen was positioned perfectly behind him. 

The Dutch sprinter timed his final effort to perfection and picks up his fifth win of the year - statistically he and Viviani are the best sprinters in the world with five wins each this season. 

Stage Result

1. Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo)
2. Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)
3. André Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
4. Phil Bauhaus (Team Sunweb)
5. Arnaud Demare (FDJ)
6. Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb)
7. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates)
8. Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC Racing)
9. John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo)
10. Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida)

General Classification

1. Arnaud Demare (FDJ) in 7-58-57 
2. Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) at 7"
3. Christophe Laporte (Cofidis) at 8"
4. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) at 10"
5. Mike Teunissen (Team Sunweb) at 13"
6. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) at 13"
7. Tony Gallopin (AG2R) at 15"
8. Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) at 15"
9. Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) at 15"
10. Heinrich Haussler (Bahrain-Merida) at 15"

Abandons

Rui Costa

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