Paris-Nice: Fabio Jakobsen beats Wout van Aert to win on windswept stage 2

Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) took an emphatic victory on a windswept second stage of Paris-Nice, beating Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) to the line in Orléans.

Christophe Laporte remains the overall race leader, after finishing in third place, with a five-second lead over van Aert while Primož Roglič drops down to third at 11 seconds back.

Jakobsen was one of just a few sprinters to make it into the front group after crosswinds blew apart the peloton in the second half of the stage. His Quick-Step squad bossed the splits and managed to get three riders into the lead group to support the Dutch rider.

Also read:

• How to watch Paris-Nice 2022: Live streaming and TV
• Wout van Aert on Jumbo-Visma Paris-Nice sweep: ‘Surprised we dropped everyone’
• Paris-Nice: Christophe Laporte leads Jumbo-Visma 1-2-3 ahead of Primož Roglič and Wout van Aert on stage 1

Yves Lampaert put in a huge turn to bring back a late attack from Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) and put Jakobsen in the prime position to take yet another victory in 2022. However, Jumbo-Visma came to try and spoil the party for the second day running with yellow jersey Laporte giving van Aert a monster leadout.

His big turn saw the duo pull out a small gap, forcing the hand of the Belgian team. Undeterred, Jakobsen went about chasing down van Aert before blasting past him to win by an undeniable margin.

“Of course, I think Paris-Nice is the first couple of days echelons and sprints and then we go to the mountains. Then, I have to do it in the first days. Yesterday was too hard, so then we focused on today,” Jakobsen said. “We love echelons at Quick-Step and we were there with four guys. I’m just happy I could finish it off for the team.

“I have to say, I think the boys from Jumbo had the three among the strongest so it was definitely not easy, but as I said, we love echelons and we had a lot of motivation before the stage. Even though the legs hurt from 60 kilometers of full gas we could still make it and I’m happy I could win.

“Yves [Lampaert] did a major pull and then Styby [Zdeněk Štybar] took over with Florian [Sénéchal] and maybe Florian waited just a little bit too long with his leadout and they could go first but I was always sheltered behind him so I could launch myself to the wheel of van Aert and then pass on the right. It was a little uphill in the end and I like to sprint a little like that and it’s just nice to be on the podium above those two.”

The Wolfpack does it again 🙌🤘#ParisNice pic.twitter.com/KHsZRAsFQx

— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) March 7, 2022

How it happened

Wind caused tension in the bunch on stage 1 of Paris-Nice, but stage 2 from Auffargis to Orléans would see it cause absolute chaos. Two riders wouldn’t be on the start line with Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) and Ruby Barbier (Israel-Premier Tech).

A breakaway of three riders, which included Lotto Soudal’s Philippe Gilbert, got up the road early on but its chance of succeeding already seemed limited. As the trio pushed ahead, the wind began to pick up and the jostling within the bunch was causing trouble.

Van Aert, one of the three Jumbo-Visma that broke away in the stage 1 finale, was caught up in a crash nearly 20 kilometers in. However, the Belgian was back up quickly and soon back in the bunch, but he would still need to pay a visit to the medical car.

It would still be some time until the wind had the biggest impact but, with just about 90 kilometers to go, the peloton would ride onto an exposed section of road. The impact was almost instant as crashes and splits began to happen.

Up front, the breakaway continued to chug along with a gap of almost four minutes to the splintered peloton behind at the 79 kilometers to go. As the front groups came back together just under 10k later, that gap had been halved.

The peloton of about 40 riders was able to take a short breath but the respite would only last so long. In what was left of the bunch, Jumbo-Visma had its three key riders in van Aert, race leader Laporte, and Roglič. Ineos Grenadiers, Trek-Segafredo, and Arkéa-Samsic — with Nairo Quintana — had strong representation, too.

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— Paris-Nice (@ParisNice) March 7, 2022

The short lull was soon ended as the wind ripped through the weary bunch, cutting it down into small pieces. Amidst the chaos, Bora-Hansgrohe was one of the worst off with defending champion Max Schachmann ending up getting caught well behind. Brandon McNulty and João Almeida (both UAE Team Emirates) also found themselves scrabbling to limit their losses.

Ahead, the three-man breakaway was absorbed as the remnants of the peloton fought to maintain their hard-earned advantages. Jumbo-Visma lost Mike Teunissen to a puncture in the shuffle but it still had a strong contingent to pill on the pressure again. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl also mastered the crosswinds to get a big presence at the front.

Several groups reformed to make a peloton of about 35 riders, but Schachmann and McNulty were still chasing behind. In between them and the lead group, another bunch with Matteo Jorgenson was chasing hard, too.

Another change in direction brought another short lull in action, but as the front group approached the final 10 kilometers — and another potentially risky stretch of road — it became nervous once again.

The winds were still strong, but they weren’t strong enough to do the same damage and the Jorgenson group was closing in. However, just as it looked like they might be about to make it, Jorgenson touched the wheel of a rider in front of him and came down hard, taking a helpless Steven Kruijswijk with him.

A late attack by Bissegger was brought back by Lampaert, who peeled off the front when he delivered his team under the flamme rouge. It looked to be going all Quick-Step’s way and Florian Sénéchal was lining up for his final leadout when Laporte and van Aert jumped off the front.

Jakobsen reacted quickly to get onto the wheel of van Aert before charging past him and taking the win.