Fabio Jakobsen wins bunch sprint at the end of the second stage of Paris-Nice for QuickStep Alpha Vinyl

Updated 07/03/2022 at 19:36 GMT

Jakobsen won the second stage of Paris-Nice for QuickStep Alpha Vinyl at the end of a fraught stage, with cross winds splitting the peloton on numerous occasions. With just twenty riders left at the front, the Dutchman crossed the line in the bunch sprint to come home ahead of van Aert and Laporte. The Jumbo-Visma rider retains the leader’s jersey.

Paris-Nice: Stage 2 highlights

Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) won a bunch sprint into Orleans after a frantic second stage of Paris-Nice was disrupted by crosswinds. The Dutchman came home ahead of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who had been led out by his team mate Christophe Laporte, who retains the leader’s jersey.

“I think Paris-Nice, first couple of days echelons and sprints, I have to do it in the first days,” Jakobsen said. “I love echelons and I’m just so happy I could do it for the team.”

After Team Jumbo-Visma's domination of Stage 1, the second day of racing seemed set to be one for the sprinters. A couple of early short, sharp climbs were the perfect opportunity for an early break to establish themselves, before a long mostly flat run in to the town of Orleans seemed destined for the bunch to be caught and a sprint finish to ensue.

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All of that being said, as yesterday showed, nothing can be taken for granted, especially if the spring winds start to blow on any exposed sections of road.

Philippe Gilbert and Matthew Holmes from Lotto Soudal made a very early move, slipping off the front with 156km to go – and they were joined by Alexis Gougeard (B&B Hotels-KTM). Holmes was clearly chasing king of the mountains points after his success on the climbs yesterday, and indeed was first over both Cote des 17 tournants and the 6% Cote de Choisel to ensure he held onto the polka dot jersey into day three.

A general view of the peloton passing through a landscape during the 80th Paris - Nice 2022 - Stage 2 a 159,2km stage from Auffargis to Orléans / #ParisNice / on March 07, 2022 in Orleans, France.

Image credit: Getty Images

Those three worked together well for a big proportion of the race, building up an advantage of well over five minutes – although the peloton was keen to make sure that advantage didn’t get too out of hand, with Jumbo-Visma at the front controlling things. There was a brief scare for the team with van Aert caught up in an early crash, but he seemed more inconvenienced than hurt and was soon back in the bunch.

Incidentally, Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) didn't make the start line in Affargis, with bronchitis the diagnosis given by the team – something that will be hoped won’t derail his assault on the spring classics, especially after he had looked in such good form at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad just last week.

Into the final 100km, and the trio in the breakaway were maintaining their advantage – but it very much had a feeling of when, not if, they would be caught. But with 89km to go, the peloton had problems of their own, as the crosswinds came into play, splitting the group almost in two and leading to an inevitable crash as tensions grew and no one wanted to be on the wrong side of the split.

Primoz Roglic and van Aert positioned themselves well, as did Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic). The Slovenian had admitted to being unsure of his shape heading into this race, but it was so far, so good as he eased his way into the front half of the peloton. But the winds didn’t let up and the tension was building, with a further crash towards the back of the main peloton taking out Bauke Mollema (Trek-Semifredo) and Rohan Dennis (Jumbo-Visma) – both of those two having to work hard to try and re-catch the main group. With the peloton starting to motor to chase down the breakaway though, their chances of making their way back soon diminished.

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With 64km to go, the breakaway was finally caught, the trio unable to make much headway on the exposed roads with the winds still wrecking havoc. Jumbo-Visma continued to up the pace on the front, despite losing Mike Teunissen to a puncture, the Dutchman cutting a lonely figure by the side of the road, as he watched the peloton disappearing into the distance. Overnight leader Christophe Laporte was pulling his weight at the front, perhaps fancying his chances of holding onto that lead.

QuickStep started to join the effort at the front, and soon the lead group was whittled down to just twenty riders. Big efforts were going in, with some riders lacking team mates – not to mention the ever-present threat from the crosswinds. Very few riders were managing to bridge back across as the race continued to splinter with less than 40km to go, but one man who did was Sam Bennett (Bora–Hansgrohe) - although after that big effort, whether he’d have the legs left should a sprint decide the stage was up for debate.

Thus, after an incredibly frenetic hour of riding, the race almost calmed down once the roads became less exposed, with the sprinters starting to believe that today they’d get an opportunity to show their mettle. That allowed a small bunch to make it back to the lead group which swelled to just over thirty riders, and with 15km to go, a sprint finish looked the most likely outcome.

Stefen Bissegger (EF Education–EasyPost) had a brief look with 5km to go, but with no support and QuickStep running things at the front of the group, his effort looked doomed. He pulled across the road with 2km left and then it was all down to the sprinters.

Under the flamme rouge, and Laporte tried to lead out van Aert with Bennett too far back to make a decisive move, but Jakobsen was right on van Aert’s wheel and he peeled out of the Belgian's slipstream to cross the line first, arms aloft as he once again proved he is the sprinter in form this season.