2018 Paris-Nice Stage 2 Preview - Arnaud Demare Lined Up For Another Sprint Finish

2018 Paris-Nice Stage 2 Preview - Arnaud Demare Lined Up For Another Sprint Finish
09:44, 05 Mar 2018

The Stage - The second part of Paris-Nice and a change from the intense finish that the field had to deal with yesterday given that the finish is likely to be flat rather than steep, and without cobbles. One for the sprinters.

The Route - A succession of D-Roads, once again, until the destination in Veirzon. From Ortonville, the destination of the grand depart, the field takes the D189 to pass via Roinville and Vise before then going onto the D7 and D17 to reach Voves.

The route is just south from then, with interchanges from the D29 and D357 at Courbehaye before the approach to the first intermediate sprint of the day that takes place on the D935 at Patay. There’s feed zone for the day at Huisseau-Sur-Mauves before several D roads that head mainly south take them towards today’s finish.

The Finish - Is a very complicated one for the sprinters and their teams. There’s a sharp right hander with 5 kilometres to go before the field must pass two roundabouts, separated by no more than 300 meters or so, both of them come on the right-hand side. There’s a hard left onto the Chemin des Randomees and then a dearly sharp right-hander at almost 90 degrees onto the Route de la Loeuf, leading onto the Rue des Pillots, and another sharp left onto the Boulevard de la Nation.

The sprint trains will be inside the last two kilometres now and there is a sharp left hand turn onto the Boulevard de la Nation and then  inside the Flamme Rouge, the Round-Point de l’Europe must be navigated, and then there is the final turn right onto the Rue Des Ponts, where the road rises to 5%, although this is just for the last 500 metres – finishing on the Avenue du 14 Juliet.

The Weather - Is not going to be as tricky (potentially) as stage 1, although there is a significant wind likely to come from the South-East, which does leave the potential of echelons as the peloton will be facing a cross/headwinds for the majority of the stage.

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The Winner - Is more likely to be a raw speedster than yesterday, although a strong team is a big help and good bike handling skills are essential.

The Favourites - Arnaud Demare’s effort to reel in Gorka Izagirre yesterday was an incredible one and if anything, this stage and finish suits the Frenchman and yellow jersey holder even more. With Delage, Sinkeldam and Guarnieri, FDJ have serious support and he ought to go very close again.

For those three at FDJs, see Lampaert, Mørkøv and Sabatini at quick-step, all of whom will be putting Elia Viviani into position. The Italian’s move to quickstep has been an inspired move for both him and the team – he has already won four stages and beaten the best of the sprinting elite in those victories, so he ought to go well.

Dylan Groenewegen managed to beat Demare to take Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, his fourth win of the season, and that was his fourth win of a season which suggests that he has made it into the sprinting elite. Teammates Amund Grøndahl Jansen and Timo Roosen will be on the secenes very late, a challenge for any sprint train, but they have worked wonders so far this season. Alexander Kristoff wasn’t that present at the finish today, but this finish is perfect so he and Sam Bennett (also UAE) have to be considered closely. John Degenkolb doesn’t have much of the Trek sprint train at his disposal but is another who will love the last kilometre.

Phil Bauhaus managed to beat the top names in Abu Dhabi and that represented a serious career best and perhaps and arrival to the big time for the young German, and he can count on the power of Mike Teunissen and Edward Theuns to boot.

Andre Griepel started off the season in great fashion at the Tour Down under hut has gone off the boil and then perhaps suffered given that Lotto have been hitting the sprint classics very hard. However, he has all the know-how needed to take a hand here and the slight uphill ought to help with positioning. Magnus Cort Neilsen won’t get the best help with the sprint train which is a put off; Nacer Bouhanni will have Christophe Laporte which should help him a lot although he’s shown good form just once this year, at the Dubai Tour.

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