Greg Henderson powered to an impressive win on stage two of Paris-Nice, Team Sky’s fifth victory of the season so far.
The New Zealander was set up brilliantly by teammate Geraint Thomas who surged to the front in the closing stages at the end of the 199 kilometres route from Monfort l’Amaury to Amilly.
The pair swooped past the HTC-Highroad train and Henderson then unleashed his finishing kick with 250 metres to go and proved strongest in what was a clean sprint to the line, with Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) in second and Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) third, just ahead of Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervelo), Peter Sagan (Liquigas) and Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil).
Henderson took the first stage proper in the race last year and was delighted to be back on the top step on the podium, saying: “It’s always special to win at such an amazing race. I had a great lead-out from Geraint, he was just fantastic. He was just sitting there waiting and then away he went with 500 metres to go and I just took off around 250 metres out.
“It was a really long sprint but I was lucky to hold the field all the way to the line.”
Switch in focus
The time bonus for winning means Henderson is now in second on the general classification, just four seconds behind first stage hero Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil). Tuesday’s third stage sees the second category Cote de Becoup just 12km from the finish and Henderson added: “I’ll have a go tomorrow over that final climb and if I can make it then great but otherwise I’m in full support of Bradley Wiggins and Mick Rogers on the GC.”
The stage had seen a two-man breakaway but Maxime Bouet (AG2R) and Tony Gallopin (Cofidis) never looked like staying clear despite plenty of small crashes in the main peloton on what was a nervy day.
“I think everyone was a bit scared of the wind breaking the peloton to pieces,” explained Henderson. “There were so many crashes in the space of about 10 kilometres, it was crazy. We just tried to stay near the front and out of trouble in the closing stages.”
