Ayuso takes early time on Vingegaard as Hoole is caught late and Kanter wins Paris–Nice stage 2

Stage 1 of the Race to the Sun had looked likely to produce some action, but that never really materialised. The climbs were not difficult enough to split the race, so the opener ended in a bunch sprint instead. There, Luke Lamperti of EF Education–EasyPost was a surprise winner, with the American cashing in on an excellent lead-out by Marijn van den Berg to also become the first overall leader.

Stage 2 also looked set to offer another opportunity for the fast men. It was even flatter than day 1, so the sprinters were always expected to come into the picture. It was also their final real chance of the week in France, which only added to the motivation in the peloton. Before the expected sprint finale could take shape, a group of four went clear: mountains classification leader Casper Pedersen of Soudal Quick-Step was joined by Jasha Sütterlin of Jayco AlUla and TotalEnergies duo Mathis Le Berre and Mattéo Vercher.

That set up an intriguing fight for the mountain points. Le Berre had started the day just one point behind Pedersen, and with Vercher up the road as well, TotalEnergies clearly had a plan. Even with that numerical advantage, however, the Dane was still strongest: on the first climb he once again took maximum points. Sütterlin and Vercher were then dropped, leaving a straight duel in which Pedersen still had the upper hand.

Pedersen extended his lead in the mountains classification before the last two escapees were caught with 60 kilometres to go. In the bunch, most of the control came from EF Education–EasyPost, NSN and Lotto–Intermarché. With the entire second half of the stage essentially flat, a mass sprint looked inevitable.

Even so, there was still an intermediate sprint with bonus seconds on offer. Green jersey holder Vito Braet was delivered well by his team and took the win there, while Juan Ayuso also moved up and grabbed four bonus seconds. The peloton then continued at a very modest pace for a long stretch, until Daan Hoole of Decathlon CMA CGM suddenly launched an attack with 20 kilometres left.

The Dutch powerhouse still held a lead of 30 seconds entering the final 10 kilometres, which gave him genuine hope of pulling off a surprise. Thanks to a strong chase by the men of Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe, Hoole’s advantage dropped to under 10 seconds with just two kilometres remaining. As the race entered the final kilometre, the Dutchman was still ahead of the peloton, but in the end it was not enough. In the disrupted sprint that followed, it was ultimately Max Kanter who emerged fastest, ahead of Laurence Pithie and Jasper Stuyven.