Refresh
-49km
Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) and Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) are dialling up the tempo on the head of the bunch, which is lining out accordingly. This shall be a really quick and doubtlessly fraught run-in to the end.
-54km
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X) takes one final look after which sits up. His journey is over and the peloton is again collectively.
-57m
Gregaard is content material to attend for the chasing peloton, which has now closed to inside 20 seconds. Regardless of the uncovered roads, the wind doesn’t appear robust sufficient for now to impress splits, however the intermediate dash at La Chapelle-la-Reine with 13km to go may effectively provoke frissons.
Talking of tomorrow’s novel crew time trial, it has been confirmed that groups will set out at three-minute intervals reasonably than five-minute intervals. The revision to the beginning occasions has been made to assist alleviate the strain on the policing service, on condition that Tuesday is a day of nationwide strike in protest towards pension reform in France.
-60km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 0:41
Gregaard takes an extended look again over his shoulder on the summit and he has the mien of a person prepared to sit down up and watch for the fast-closing peloton, which is lower than 50 seconds behind. In any case, his mission for the day is completed.
-61km
Gregaard is dancing up the Côte de Méréville and the Dane will declare full factors to make sure he dons the king of the mountains jersey in tomorrow’s crew time trial
-63km
Tim Declercq can be to the fore right here for Soudal-QuickStep, whereas Vingegaard and Pogacar are notably vigilant in the direction of the pinnacle of a bunch the place the depth appears to be ratcheting upwards with every passing kilometre.
Jumbo-Visma, Ineos and Trek-Segafredo are among the many groups claiming actual property on the head of the peloton on this uncovered part of the route. Rohan Dennis is distinguished on behalf of his chief Jonas Vingegaard.
-67km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 0:51
The peloton is stitched again collectively after a frantic chase by TotalEnergies. In the meantime, Gregaard’s buffer has been pared again to a minute or so because of that important uptick in urgency.
-76km
An injection of tempo sees a break up open within the peloton. Soudal-QuickStep are represented in numbers within the entrance portion, however the hole to the chasers has not but ballooned outwards.
-82km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 2:45
-90km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 2:40
Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe) led the peloton over the Côte des Granges-le-Roi, incidentially, leaving Gregaard because the digital king of the mountains, two factors forward of Powless. The Dane can buttress that lead nonetheless additional if he survives one other 30km or so in entrance till the Côte de Méréville.
-95km
Gregaard led the race over the class 3 Côte des Granges-le-Roi, however there was a discernible improve within the urgency of the peloton, and his lead has contracted to 2:40.
-102km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 3:05
Gregaard cowl a little bit over 44km within the first hour of racing, and the Dane is now approaching the primary of the day’s two categorised climbs. He is unlikely to upset the sprinters this afternoon, however he ought to divest Neilson Powless (EF Training-EasyPost) of the king of the mountains jersey. He lies a degree behind Powless within the standings and there are three factors on supply to the primary man to the highest of every of the day’s class 3 climbs.
-119km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 3:55
Pogacar’s aggressive begin to Paris-Good yesterday was in line with the tenor of his season so far. His default setting has at all times been ‘assault,’ not less than after his 2020 Tour de France win, however that strategy appears much more pronounced this yr. Our columnist Philippa York has questioned if it is a byproduct of his defeat to Vingegaard eventually yr’s Tour. “He’s the kind of rider that can pounce at any second if he sees a possibility, and he does have a starvation to win that’s distinctive, however I get the sensation there’s additionally a specific amount of reassurance occurring right here,” Philippa writes. “He must know he’s nonetheless primary and nonetheless the reference. He must persuade himself and everybody else that he solely misplaced the Tour final yr due to tactical errors.” Learn Philippa’s preview of the most recent instalment of Pogacar v Vingegaard right here.
-133km
30km into the stage, Jonas Gregaard approaches Les Chaises with a lead of 4 minutes on a peloton that appears greater than content material to grant him some early leeway. Soudal-QuickStep are controlling the tempo within the bunch for now.
Tirreno-Adriatico will get underway as we speak, with reside protection of the opening time trial out there right here, however the two large WorldTour occasions aren’t the one races making headlines as we speak. Caleb Ewan thought he had gained yesterday’s GP Monseré when he dived for the road with Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) in Roeselare, and the Australian was much more satisfied of his case after seeing some end line images. The commissaires, nonetheless, gave the decision to Thijssen… Learn extra right here.
-144km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 4:10
Gregaard was already within the break yesterday, spending 122km off the entrance with Paul Ourselin, and he additionally caught the attention with an attacking show on stage 3 of final month’s Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, finally putting third behind Simone Velasco and Bob Jungels in Sagunto as they only about fended off the bunch. The 26-year-old is in his second season at Uno-X, having beforehand spent three campaigns in Astana colors.
-152km
Break:
Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X)
Peloton at 1:45
No response from the peloton, and Gregaard opts to press on alone, shortly pushing his benefit out in the direction of the one-minute mark.
-159km
There was no explicit injection of tempo when the flag was initally dropped, however we now have our first attacker of the day, as Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X Professional Biking Staff) opens a small hole over the peloton. The Dane would certainly like some firm on an expedition like this, however he’s alone in the meanwhile.
Tim Merlier has quietly loved a really quick begin to life at Soudal-QuickStep, and yesterday’s triumph was his fourth of the season after wins on the Tour of Oman and the UAE Tour. The Belgian champion wears yellow as we speak, and he’ll fancy his possibilities in Fontainebleau, even when the dash discipline here’s a deep one. Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) wasn’t far off yesterday, whereas Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Dstny), Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) will all be within the combine once more.
-164km
The peloton has hit kilometre zero and stage 2 of Paris-Good is formally underway. There are simply two class 3 ascents on the agenda this afternoon, the Côte des Granges-le-Roi (1.4km at 4.3%) after 63km and the Côte de Méréville (900m at 4.4%), which comes simply over 100km into the stage.
As positive as night time follows day, Tadej Pogacar threw himself into the offensive on yesterday’s opening stage, attacking on the Côte de Milon-la-Chapelle with 20km to go and snagging six bonus seconds for his hassle. The Slovenian stole an early march on his rival Vingegaard. On the proof of their duel by correspondance on the Iberian Peninsula final month, thoughts, we are able to maybe anticipate a response from the Dane sooner or later – or, in fact, one other onslaught from Pogacar. “At first, I felt a bit shit, however each hour in I felt a little bit higher,” Pogacar stated on Sunday. “So I hope the following days will enable me to do one thing.” Learn extra right here.
The peloton is at the moment negotiating the neutralised zone in Bazainville, with the race on account of hit kilometre zero at 13.00 CET. The temperature is a cold 5°C and the slate gray sky may have been lifted from a Jacques Brel chanson, however – to the aid of many – there isn’t any important breeze to talk of.
Because of his stage win yesterday, Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) wears the primary yellow jersey of this Paris-Good, 4 seconds forward of Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Staff Emirates). The complete standings are beneath courtesy of First Biking.
On paper, stage 2 of Paris-Good appears to be like like one for the sprinters. In observe, absolutely anything may occur on the uncovered 164km run to Fontainebleau, even when the breeze is comparatively mild in the meanwhile. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Staff Emirates) was already on the offensive yesterday, in spite of everything, whereas Jonas Vingegaard’s Jumbo-Visma squad, as we all know, are usually not shy about attempting to steal an early march at this race.
