Tim Merlier made it two from two at Paris-Good on Monday, sprinting to a powerful victory on stage two of the race whereas carrying the chief’s yellow jersey.
None of Merlier’s rivals have been in a position to match his deadly flip of velocity, with the reigning European champion taking a comparatively simple sixth win of the 12 months after being completely arrange within the ending straight. It adopted victory on stage one, too.
French duo Emilien Jeannière of TotalEnergies and Hugo Web page of Intermarche-Wanty took second and third respectively, with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) finishing the highest 5. Pedersen and Kristoff later moved up a spot every after Web page was relegated for an irregular dash.
“It’s one to recollect, for certain,” Merlier stated afterwards. “I believe that is the primary time in my profession that I’ve gained whereas carrying the chief’s jersey. It was a bit annoying at the moment because the breakaway was enjoying with us a little bit, I believe. Ultimately Abrahamsen was actually sturdy and stayed a very long time in entrance. However the workforce did a very good job for me once more.”
A number of crashes came about on the street, and Merlier defined that he was compelled to chase again after selecting up a mechanic challenge on account of one of many incidents. “There was a crash earlier than me and there wasn’t time to interrupt. Somebody hit me from the again and my wheel was damaged so I wanted to alter the bike,” he stated.
Merlier joked that stage three’s workforce time trial ought to, on paper, spell the tip of his stint in yellow, however stated his Soudal Fast-Step workforce would do all the pieces inside their energy to drag off a shock.
“After all, we’re going to strive however it is going to be very troublesome, I believe,” he added with a smile.
The newest race content material, interviews, options, critiques and professional shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
The way it occurred
(Picture credit score: Getty Photographs)
The race preceded with out a lot incident, till 42 kilometres have been left to race when an enormous pile up took out massive numbers of riders. A number of have been seen swinging into the farmland alongside the slender street with a view to keep away from the chaos. Frenchman Florian Sénéchal (Arkéa–B&B Lodges) was loaded into an ambulance along with his arm strapped up.
The occasions again down the street performed into the arms of the final man standing from the day’s breakaway, Jonas Abrahamsen of Uno-X Mobility. The Norwegian rider was a part of an preliminary three-rider transfer, however his breakaway compatriots have been unable to dwell with the exhausting tempo set by the 29-year-old. Abrahamsen had a lead of greater than a minute because the riders entered the ultimate section of racing.
The peloton steadily ate into Abramsen’s lead as he approached the 20 kilometre to go banner, with Visma-Lease a Bike being one in all a number of groups jostling for place on the head of the pack, trying to get organised forward of an anticipated dash end in Bellegarde.
Abrahamsen led the race into the ending circuit for what could be the race’s first passage throughout the road, sweeping up six bonus seconds for his efforts.
In the meantime. Soudal Fast-Step had the European Champion, and winner of the primary stage, Tim Merlier, well-placed because the peloton got here by means of the centre of Bellegarde. A small crash within the peloton brought on a number of small splits, which quickly caught out a number of GC riders, permitting Abrahamsen to push on with the true end drew nearer. His lead stood at 35 seconds with beneath ten kilometres to race.
Abrahamsen was lastly caught by the onrushing peloton with two and a half kilometres to go. The peloton tore beneath the flamme rouge with Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek and Soudal Fast-Step main the cost. However in the long run, no one may cease Merlier, because the Belgian cantered to a second successive stage win.
2025 Paris-Good stage 2, Montesson > Bellegarde (183 km)
1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step, in 4:11:29
2. Emilien Jeanniere (Fra) Whole Energies,
3. Mads Pedersen 9Den) Lidl-Trek,
4. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
5. Timo Kielich (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck,
6. Axel Zingle (Fra) Visma-Lease a Bike,
7. Arnaud Demare (Fra) Arkea B&B Lodges,
8. Matevz Govekar (Slo) Bahrain Victorious,
9. Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Picnic PostNL,
10. Cees Bol (Ned) Astana Qazaqstan, all at similar time
Normal classification after stage two
1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step, in 7:43:12
2. Arnaud Démare (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Lodges, +14s
3. Jhonatan Narváez (European) UAE Crew Emirates-XRG, st
4. Matteo Jorgensen (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, st
5. Jhontan Narvaez (European) UAE Crew Emirates-CRG, st
6. Jonas Abrahamsen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, st
7. mads Pedersen 9Den) Lidl-Trek, +16s
8. Mick van Dijke (Ned) Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, st
9. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Professional Biking, st
10. Magnus Sheffield (USA) Ineos Grenadiers, +18s
