Hofland wins stage 2 of Paris-Nice

Moreno Hofland (Belkin) beat John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) to win stage 2 of Paris-Nice from Rambouillet to Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche on Monday. Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) finished third on the stage after a crash in the final kilometre saw the peloton fracture just before Hofland opened up for his winning sprint.

Hofland came into the finish on Degenkolb’s wheel, and with 200 metres to go, the runner up from Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne surprised the German with a quick turn of speed.

In the battle for the overall, Bouhanni now leads Degenkolb by two seconds after Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) crashed inside the final 10 kilometres and lost contact with the peloton. Meersman had picked up enough time bonuses to during the stage to lead Bouhanni by one second before the final sprint.

"I'm a little surprised because with one kilometre to go today I was a little too far behind," Hofland said. "I was in the wheel of John Degenkolb and with 200 metres to go, I went a little early and I managed to surprise him. The last couple of weeks have been going pretty good for me and I hope to hold the form as long as possible."

In a similar pattern to the opening day of racing, stage 2 saw an early break form with Anthony Delaplace (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) and Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling) providing the early excitement with an attack inside the opening two kilometres.

With no prologue in this year’s race and a lack of traditional mountain top finishes, a cagey affair was expected to ensue with the overall contenders tightly packed together.

However the peloton were in a generous mood as they rolled out from Rambouillet, allowing the escapees an advantage of 11:30.

Such an allowance was enough to see FDJ.fr bustle their way to the front of the pack midway through the stage, and they gradually began to trim back the leaders' advantage.

By the category 3 Côte de la Ferté-Loupière – the only climb on the stage – the leaders’ advantage had dropped to 5:40 with Delaplace, a new recruit from Sojasun, following Saramotins over the summit.

Quickstep, arguably the strongest team of the season so far, soon pulled alongside Bouhanni’s squad to offer their assistance. The collaboration came with a price, though, as they had Meersman in a position to potentially usurp the Frenchman in the overall standings.

Meersman had drawn level with Bouhanni in the virtual overall standings, after picking up 3rd place and one bonus second in the bonus sprint at Malesherbes after 62 kilometres and with 32km remaining the break were at a controllable four minutes.

At the 20km to go banner, the gap was at still 2:55 but as Delaplace and Saramotins swung over the finish line circuit for the first time with 17km remaining, even the gentle incline proved too much for Delaplace, who began to lose contact with his IAM Cycling counterpart.

The pair regrouped soon after, with Meersman picking up another third at the intermediate sprint. With the finale sprint to come the Belgian looked on course to take the race lead.

Up ahead, Delaplace was unable to hold Saramotins’s wheel for the final time and with 12km remaining the Latvian found himself alone and with a lead of 1:35, as a brisk headwind began to force the break into submission.

Even without the time checks, it was clear from Saramotins’s rocking shoulders that his time was almost up, his previously stonewall exterior smashed as he lurched over the bars and fought to hold his lead.

Just as the bunch sprint looked inevitable, Meersman found himself on the ground after a mid-pack crash involving Lars Boom, Edvald Boasson Hagen and Tyler Farrar.

Inside the final 10 kilometres and the far more predictable but debatably less welcome sight of Thomas Voeckler and his repertoire of full facial expressions appeared on the front of the peloton as Meersman began a lone chase through the convoy.

Almost a forgotten man, Saramotins still led by twenty seconds as Garmin, Movistar and a collage of sprinters’ teams occupied the front of the peloton. He was finally captured with 3.3km to go, just as Meersman – after using his team car to shelter him – vied but failed to make contact with the coattails of the peloton.

Giant and QuickStep were by now patrolling the front of the bunch, with Belkin and FDJ sitting closely by. Having raced through the technical and slightly uphill sprint once before, it was Hofland who charged for the line first. His turn of speed seemed to catch Degenkolb cold and although the German fought back he was unable to draw back on terms and would have to settle for the runners-up spot for the second day in a row.

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