The Gorilla Rules the Jungle
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Mar 10, 2015 – Germany’s Andre Greipel won a sprint finish to the second stage of Paris-Nice on Tuesday with Polish world champion Michal Kwiatkowski holding onto the leader’s yellow jersey.
AFP/Kåre Dehlie Thorstad
In what was a largely straight-forward 172-kilometer run down from the ZooParc at Beauval near Paris, the only breakaway bid came from Frenchman Arnaud Gerard. He kept the lead for 134 kilometers, but was easily reeled in by the peloton setting up the sprint finish.
Greipel dominated that to take the win ahead of Frenchman Arnaud Demare, with another German cyclist John Degenkolb taking third place ahead of Michael Matthews of Australia.
“Paris-Nice is a big race and it usually has quite a few top sprinters,” Greipel said. “I hadn’t competed in it for several years, so I am delighted. “I was feeling sick for a few days but made a quick recovery because I was already doing well in the Tour of the Algarve (February).”
Kwiatkowski said that he had been surprised there had not been more attacks in the race so far but was delighted to be able to hold onto the lead.The Race to the Sun continues on Wednesday with a 179 kilometer stage from Saint-Amand-Montrond to Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule.
Below are the stage results and GC, but if you haven’t already checked out what happened in the Prologue (and seen our photos) as well as our Stage 1 report, where Tom Boonen injured his shoulder, then you should certainly click the underlined text.
Results Stage 2:
1. Andre Greipel (GER/Lotto), 172 km in 4:30:18
2. Arnaud Démare (FRA/FDJ) same time
3. John Degenkolb (GER/GIA) same time
4. Michael Matthews (AUS/ORI) same time
5. Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP/MOV) same time
6. Nacer Bouhanni (FRA/COF) same time
7. Moreno Hofland (NED/LNL) same time
8. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/KAT) same time
9. Jonas Van Genechten (BEL/IAM) same time
10. Niccolo Bonifazio (ITA/LAM) same time.
General Classification:
1 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol/Etixx – Quick-Step) 9:53:16
2 Rohan Dennis (Aus/BMC Racing Team) 0.31sec
3 John Degenkolb (Ger/Team Giant-Alpecin) 2sec
4 Tony Martin (Ger/Etixx – Quick-Step) 7sec
5 Michael Matthews (Aus/Orica GreenEdge) 9sec
6 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa/Astana Pro Team) 10sec
7 Lars Boom (Ned/Astana Pro Team) same time
8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra/IAM Cycling) same time
9 Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Team Giant-Alpecin) 13sec
10 Geraint Thomas (GBr/Team Sky) same time