Fabio Jakobsen has demolished the final sprint to win an epic stage 2 at Paris-Nice today. The crosswinds blew and the race split to pieces in the second half of the 159.2km stage from Auffargis to Orléans.
While both Sam Bennett and his Bora-hansgrohe team mate Ryan Mullen made the front group today, the Carrick-on-Suir man is still searching for his top form and he did not feature in the final sprint.
Mullen and Bennett found themselves on the back foot with about 50km to go as they were second group on the road when the race split in the crosswinds. The Irish pair were forced into a chase as the Jumbo Visma team of race leader Christophe Laporte drove the pace on the front.
The Bennett-Mullen group eventually got back to the front group, though the effort to make the catch continued for some time and would have taken a lot out of the pursuing riders.
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In the final sprint to the line today, Laporte tried to lead-out Wout van Aert for the victory. While they pulled clear of Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) a little when Laporte initially kicked, once the Dutch rider got on top of his gear he was the clear winner.
Van Aert was 2nd, with race leader Laporte in 3rd place to keep the yellow jersey. The French rider, who won stage 1, is now leading by five seconds from Van Aert, with the third Jumbo Visma rider, Primož Roglič, in 3rd place at 11 seconds.
Sam Bennett finished in 33rd place today, on the same time as winner Jakobsen. Ryan Mullen lost a little time on the run in to the line and placed 39th at 26 seconds. However, the presence of the two Irish riders in what was a 40-man front group suggests they are in good form. Bennett just needs some more top end speed to push him into contention in the sprints as he is still coming back from an injury-hit season last year.
