Second place for Niccolo Bonifazio (Trek-Segafredo) on stage 2 of Paris Nice behind Matthews/Bouhanni dog fight
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Paris-Nice – 2nd for Trek-Segafredo
TEAM PRESS RELEASE
A more traditional sprint stage greeted the riders for stage two in Paris-Nice, which all came down to a gnarly bunch sprint where Niccolo Bonifazio capped off fantastic team work to finish in second place behind Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEdge).
“The final was really hard it was up and down all the time, and there were a lot of turns,” said Bonifazio. “The team worked really hard for me, and I could go into the last corner in third position. Then, of course, I tried to win the stage, and I came close finishing third behind Matthews and [Nacer] Bouhanni. I was moved to second when Bouhanni was relegated.
“I like these longer stages because I can handle the distance very well, and still arrive at the finish fresh to do a good sprint.
Trek-Segafredo did not try and match the powerful lead-out trains. Instead, the crafty Edward Theuns, who almost stole the win with a late, daring attack yesterday, appeared at the last moment to lead Bonifazio into prime position. “I came with 700 meters to go, from the back, and I screamed at Niccolo to follow me,” explained Theuns. “I was first into the last corner, and then I tried to keep the tempo as high as possible, and I think he was in 3rd position before I pulled off.”
It was all a model of a classic sprint until the final few meters when Nacer Bouhanni [Cofidis] and Matthews made contact, nearly crashing over the finish line. Unhindered, Bonifazio finished a close third, which would later be bumped to second after Bouhanni was relegated for an illegal sprint.
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