Circuit de la Sarthe: Kooij wins stage 2

Image 1 of 15

Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) won stage 2 of Circuit Cycliste Sarthe - Pays de la Loire out of a bunch sprint. Race leader Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) could not hold off the Dutchman and settled for second place, with Lorrenzo Manzin (TotalEnergies) taking third. 

With his runner-up position on the stage, Pedersen retained the GC lead for a second day.

Similar to the opening day, Wednesday’s route of 174.4 kilometres had three small categorised mountains early on, then beckoned the sprinters for a fight on multiple circuits of 8.5km each in Le Lude.

A significant development on stage 2 was the abandonment of Manzin’s teammate Peter Sagan with 40km to go.

On the first of six full circuits, the breakaway of six riders were still in control with 3:37 in hand, and Trek-Segafredo controlling the peloton behind for race leader Pedersen. The composition of the break included Maxime Urruty (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur), Mattia Bais (Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels pb KTM), Marco Tizza (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-Samsic), and also Maël Guegan (Team U Nantes Atlantique), who would fade away mid-way on the final circuits.

The third and final intermediate sprint points were taken by Gougeard and then the peloton had the break in its sights for the catch to set up the final bunch finish. It was with three kilometres to go that Rick Pluimers and Mick van Dijke picked up the pace for Jumbo-Visma and positioned themselves in front of Kooij for his move through the final corner for his first win of the season.

"It was up to the guys to stay calm. We had agreed on a specific moment to make our move, which worked out perfectly," Kooij said. "Rick and Mick did a super job so that I could start the sprint in a good position. Then I knew I was on the right wheel with Pedersen. When I attacked, I felt I could win.

"There are still two days where we want to go for it full force. But first, we will enjoy this victory."

In the overall standings, Pedersen padded his advantage by another six seconds over the trailing duo of Benoit Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën) and Axel Zingle (Cofidis), both now 13 seconds back. Lucas Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers) remains fourth overall, 18 seconds back, while Gougeard moves up to fifth on same time as Plapp.