Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) won stage 2 at Paris-Nice today after Sam Bennett's lead-out train with Bora-hansgrohe lost its way in the vital moment in the finale of the 163.7km stage into Fontainebleau.
Though Bennett's final lead-out man, Danny van Poppel, was perfectly positioned, when he looked back to make sure the Irishman was on his wheel as he opened his effort, his sprinter was nowhere to be seen.
“The team was amazing today, we really rode as a unit," Bennett said. "Unfortunately I lost the wheel at the final roundabout and was just too far back from there on. I didn’t have the speed anymore in the final 500m and had no chance to come back. It wasn’t ideal today."
At that roundabout, with about 500m to go, Bennett lost Van Poppel's wheel when the pace appeared to catch out the Irish rider; not helped by two riders momentarily getting in his way. Jumbo Visma were in full-gas mode on the front exiting the roundabout and the front of the bunch was far too stretched out, and the pace too fast, for Bennett to recover his position.
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Instead, he made an initial quick effort to try and get to the front, before almost immediately sitting up as he realised the task ahead of him was too great.
Up front, Pedersen benefitted from a perfect lead-out, provided by team mate Alex Kirsch. He hit the front and just about held off his nearest rivals to take his second win of the season. Olav Kooij, the 21-year-old riding for Jumbo-Visma, pushed Pedersen all the way to the line but had to be content with 2nd, with Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) 3rd.
Bennett, wearing the new-look ASO green jersey after his 2nd place yesterday, was back in 20th, but effectively opted out of the sprint once he knew it had slipped away from him at that last roundabout. His Irish team mate, Ryan Mullen, who was part of Bennett's lead-out, was 84th today and on the same time as the winner.
Thanks to his stage win time bonus today, Pedersen takes the yellow jersey by two seconds from Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), who took more time bonus seconds today after also targeting the intermediate sprints yesterday. Stage 1 winner Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep), who was back in 14th today, is 3rd at four seconds. Then comes Kooij and Bennett in 4th and 5th, both at eight seconds ahead of tomorrow's TTT.
