Pogačar stretches his legs in Tirreno while McNulty retains white in Paris Nice

Tadej Pogačar showed good signs of form on the first hilly test of Tirreno-Adriatico, claiming 4th place in an uphill sprint on stage 2 from Camaiore to Chiusdino (202k).

UAE Team Emirates’ were present in numbers on the final 7km climb to the line, keeping the gap to a group of four escapees within reach.

Pogačar followed the other favourites to nab 4th place behind World Champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) and moves p to 9th on GC ahead of stage 3.

Pogačar: “It was a good day: the guys kept me in the front of the bunch and out of trouble. In the end we tried to set a hard tempo on the climb but the climb wasn’t so steep as to split the group. We waited for the sprint and I took 4th. It’s a good start but we’ll look ahead to the next stages which will be harder.”

In Paris-Nice, Brandon McNulty retains 3rd place overall and the white jersey as best young rider. Stage 5 from Vienne to Bollène (200.2k) was won by Irishman Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) with Alexander Kristoff finishing up in the mix for the sprint in 6th place.

Tirreno-Adriatico Stage 2 results:

1.Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) 5:01:32
2. Matthieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) s.t
3. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) s.t
4. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) s.t

Tirreno-Adriatico GC after stage 2:

1.Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) 3:36:17
2. Julian Alaphilippe (Deceunick-Quickstep) +4’’
3. Matthieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin Fenix) +8’’
9. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) +14’’

 
Paris-Nice Stage 5 results:

1.Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) 5:16:01
2. Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea-Samsic) s.t
3. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) s.t
6. Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) s.t

Paris-Nice GC after Stage 5:

1.Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) 18:42:41
2.Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +31’’
3.Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +37’’