Merlier, back to back
March 10 th 2025 - 16:45
Stage 2 of Paris-Nice 2025 led to a much different sprint than stage 1 but the same winner powered to victory: Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), who takes his sixth win of the year and retains the yellow and white jersey as the overall leader of the Race to the Sun. The Belgian star is the first rider to win the first two stages since Dylan Groenewegen in 2019… And it was already in Bellegarde! This time, Merlier got the better of two Frenchmen, Émilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) and Hugo Page (Intermarché-Wanty). On Tuesday, stage 3 is set to shake the overall standings with a team time trial in Nevers, the first major rendezvous of Paris-Nice 2025 for the GC contenders.
After Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost) came down with an illness overnight, 153 riders start stage 2 of Paris from Montesson, just outside of the French capital, to make their way towards Bellegarde. The slight rain doesn’t deter early attackers.
In the wake of his breakaway towards Le Perray-en-Yvelines, Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies) is back on the move to defend his polkadot jersey. Samuel Fernandez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) is with him again, after he won the combativity award on day 1. This time, they’re joined by Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility), a hero of the Tour de France 2024 with his many breakaway attempts.
The gap rapidly rises to 3’10’’ (km 14) before Soudal Quick-Step take the reins of the bunch on the day after Tim Merlier’s opening success.
Merlier and Pedersen unite
Delettre makes the most of the cat-3 climbs up Côte de Mesnuls (km 34.1) and Côte de la Villeneuve (km 54.1) to bring his KOM tally up to 12 points.
Mads Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek collaborate with Soudal Quick-Step and the gap drops down to 2 minutes as the peloton summit the second and last categorised ascent of the day.
With the peloton coming hot on their heels, Abrahamsen puts the hammer down 51 km away from the line. Delettre and Fernandez are caught but the Norwegian pushes his lead back up to a minute.
Merlier suvives an animated finale
The pace picks up again in the bunch but their progress is hampered by a mass crash with 46 km to go. Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) are among the riders involved but they quickly get back up. On the other hand, Florian Sénéchal (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) has to abandon.
Abrahamsen still leads the way into the final 20.3km lap around Bellegarde. Behind him, Tim Van Dijke (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) sprint for the time bonuses. Behind them, a crash splits the bunch again. Luke Durbridge (Jayco AlUla) and Gorka Sorarrain (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) abandon.
Stragglers get back and Abrahamsen is eventually caught with 2.5km to go. Bert Van Lerberghe (Soudal Quick-Step) and Merlier navigate just like they did on day 1 and the Belgian sprinter eventually pounces with 200 metres to go… Nobody can match his speed at the moment.
