Paris-Nice Stage 2: Kittel takes stage, Viviani in race lead after Bouhanni crashes out

Marcel Kittel of Argos Shimano has won Stage 2 of Paris-Nice following a tough day on which the peloton rode 200 kilometres into a headwind, the German holding off Cannondale’s Elia Viviani and Leigh Howard of Orica-GreenEdge to take the victory. Earlier crashes saw a number of riders hit the deck, including race leader Nacer Bouhanni of FDJ who abandoned, and Viviani, who won the day’s intermediate sprint and also picked up bonus seconds on the finish line, takes over the maillot jaune.

French champion Bouhanni, winner of yesterday’s opening road stage, was taken away in an ambulance after his crash, which happened with 57km still to go, although initial reports are that nothing was broken.

He was one of a number of riders to struggle to stay upright today, with the wind as well as roads made slippery by rain and occasional hail making conditions treacherous.

The rain and hail aside, it was a tough day all round for the peloton as they headed south into a strong headwind on the 200.5km stage from Vimory to Cérilly, which lies in the Alliers department and is located pretty much slap bang in the middle of France.

An early two-man breakaway had been brought back by the time the day’s main escape formed, comprising the Vacansoleil-DCM pair of Thomas De Gendt and Romain Feillu, plus AG2R’s Maxime Bouet and the Euskaltel rider, Mikel Astarloza.

They would be caught with 45km left to ride, and with the maillot jaune up for grabs following Bouhanni’s exit, Viviani and Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider Sylvain Chavanel made their intentions clear by going head to head for the intermediate sprint, which came on the first passage of the finish line, 18km from the actual end of the stage.

It was the 24-year-old Italian Viviani who prevailed, and the three seconds he picked up there plus the six he got for finishing behind Kittel means he now has a seven-second cushion over Chavanel at the top of the GC.

Paris-Nice Stage 2 result

1  Marcel KITTEL        TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO           5:42:18
2  Elia VIVIANI         CANNONDALE               All at same time
3  Leigh HOWARD         ORICA GREENEDGE
4  Borut BOZIC          ASTANA PRO TEAM
5  Samuel DUMOULIN      AG2R LA MONDIALE
6  Gianni MEERSMAN      OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP
7  Romain FEILLU        VACANSOLEIL-DCM
8  Jens DEBUSSCHERE     LOTTO-BELISOL
9  Jose Joaquin ROJAS   MOVISTAR TEAM
10 Tony GALLOPIN        RADIOSHACK LEOPARD
11 Gregory RAST         RADIOSHACK LEOPARD
12 Alessandro PETACCHI  LAMPRE - MERIDA
13 Sébastien TURGOT     TEAM EUROPCAR
14 Geoffrey SOUPE       FDJ
15 Kris BOECKMANS       VACANSOLEIL-DCM
16 Sylvain CHAVANEL     OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP
17 Yauheni HUTAROVICH   AG2R LA MONDIALE
18 Ion IZAGIRRE         EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI
19 Alexander KRISTOFF   KATUSHA TEAM
20 Andrew TALANSKY      GARMIN - SHARP

Overall standings after Stage 2

1  Elia VIVIANI         CANNONDALE                10:33:11
2  Sylvain CHAVANEL     OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP    0:00:07
3  Damien GAUDIN        TEAM EUROPCAR              0:00:08
4  Lieuwe WESTRA        VACANSOLEIL-DCM            0:00:09
5  Alessandro PETACCHI  LAMPRE - MERIDA            0:00:10
6  Wilco KELDERMAN      BLANCO PRO CYCLING TEAM    0:00:10
7  Geoffrey SOUPE       FDJ                        0:00:10
8  Peter VELITS         OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP    0:00:11
9  Tony GALLOPIN        RADIOSHACK LEOPARD         0:00:11
10 Borut BOZIC          ASTANA PRO TEAM            0:00:11