page_title: 2012 Paris–Nice
section_title: Stage 2
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Paris–Nice / Stages / Stage 2
caption_attribution_description: English: Paris-Nice 2012 Profile stage 2
context_page_description: The 2012 Paris–Nice was the 70th running of the Paris–Nice cycling stage race, often known as the Race to the Sun. It started on 4 March in Dampierre-en-Yvelines and ended on 11 March in Nice and consisted of eight stages, including two time trials that bookended the race. It was the second race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
  The race was won by Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky, who took the lead on the second stage of the race and held the race leader's yellow jersey to the finish, becoming the first British rider to win the race since Tom Simpson in 1967. Wiggins also took home the green jersey for amassing the highest number of points during stages at intermediate sprints and stage finishes. Wiggins won the general classification by eight seconds over runner-up Lieuwe Westra, who was winner of the race's queen stage to Mende. Movistar Team's Alejandro Valverde completed the podium, 62 seconds behind Westra and 70 seconds down on Wiggins.
context_section_description: 5 March 2012 — Mantes-la-Jolie to Orléans, 185.5 km (115.3 mi)
  Following his crash in the opening day time trial, Team Saxo Bank's Nick Nuyens became the race's first abandonment; he attempted to ride through the pain barrier, but had to withdraw within the neutralised zone prior to the real start of the stage. The peloton itself remained together for the first third of the race, as strong headwinds counteracted against the field and did not allow for any breakaways to be formed efficiently. As such, Olivier Kaisen was the first to make a move for Lotto–Belisol, attacking as the field moved through the commune of Rambouillet. Kaisen managed to extend his advantage out by almost three minutes when he reached the summit of the day's only categorised climb, in Les Granges-le-Roi. Mountains classification leader Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil–DCM) placed second, with Sylvain Chavanel third for Omega Pharma–Quick-Step.
  As the field reached the midway point of the stage, the windy conditions that had earlier plagued any potential breakaway from forming returned, and the crosswinds provided a large split in the field and echelons forming within it. By the time that the race had been finished, around thirty riders had made it in the lead group on the road, including overall contenders Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step's Levi Leipheimer and BMC Racing Team rider Tejay van Garderen. The group was later reduced to 21 riders out front after several small crashes eliminated a handful of riders from contention. Wiggins put more time into his rivals by taking the intermediate sprint, and with it, three bonus seconds on offer that gave him the virtual race lead, without even considering the fact that the overnight leader Gustav Larsson (Vacansoleil–DCM) failed to make the split. The gap from the lead pack to the first group of pursuers remained between two and two-and-a-half minutes for the rest of stage with many teams electing not to bridge the gap, mainly due to the rain that had commenced within the closing 25 km (15.5 mi).
  Larsson's team-mate Lieuwe Westra attacked with around 4 km (2.5 mi) remaining, but his effort was quickly neutralised by Chavanel, one of a number of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step riders in the group hoping to help Tom Boonen in a sprint finish lead-out. Following another failed attack from Garmin–Barracuda rider Andreas Klier, it was left to the sprinters to battle it out for the stage honours. Project 1t4i's John Degenkolb – who had recovered to the group after a puncture with 30 km (18.6 mi) remaining – was the first to make an attempt for the line, closely followed by José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar Team), but both were out-sprinted by Boonen, who went to the inside of Degenkolb and took out the victory, for the 100th individual victory of his career, and his team's first at UCI World Tour level. Rojas just beat Degenkolb for second place on the line with Sep Vanmarcke and Francesco Gavazzi rounding out the top five for Garmin–Barracuda and Astana respectively. Following his finish in the lead group, Wiggins assumed the overall lead from Larsson, with Boonen taking the points classification lead while moving into third place overall behind team-mate Leipheimer, thanks to the bonus seconds on offer at the finish.
caption: Stage profile
exif: {}