Californian sprints to fifth on the stage
Luke Lamperti defended his overall lead at the end of stage 2 of Paris-Nice.
The American also leads the young riders’ classification and sprinters’ competition as the Race to the Sun heads into its third stage, a 23.5-kilometer TTT along the Loire. He and his teammates rode a great finale today, pushing through traffic, as the peloton surged around roundabouts in the last kilometers of their journey from Épône to Montargis. Kasper Asgreen and Marijn van den Berg did huge turns to bring Luke to the front, as their rivals chopped into corners and tried to elbow them into the wind. He just got hemmed in along the barriers before he could launch his sprint and had to settle for fifth.
“I was a bit boxed in,” Luke said. “We were good. We had Asgreen there and Marijn brought me to position, but in the end, we didn’t get to fully open up. We got it a bit wrong, but okay, we can learn from our mistakes and watch it back. We got a bit stuck on the barrier, always trying to go, and we never really got out, but it still was okay.”
Luke is just the fifth American in history to wear the yellow jersey at Paris-Nice. For over 90 years, France’s most prestigious spring stage race has been the test of form for classics contenders. As he builds towards his favorite races, Luke will be honored to wear the maillot jaune tomorrow in the TTT.
“To go last team and have the jersey for tomorrow will be special,” Luke said. “Just to have another day in it and in a TTT as well is super nice. We’ll enjoy it for sure.”
