Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) has bagged Stage 2 of Paris-Nice 2015. The German road race champion took a photo finish bunch sprint to win the flat, 172-km run from ZooParc de Beauval-Saint Aignan to Saint-Amand-Montrond in 4:30:18. Arnaud Demare (FDJ) took second, while John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) finished third. Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick Step) remains the overall leader.

The day began with one minute of silence in memory of the 10 people, including three French athletes, who died in a helicopter crash in Argentina on Monday. When the racing started, Arnaud Gerard (Bretagne-Seche Environnement) took a flyer after one km. At 54 km, the Frenchman led the field by 8:25.

Cofidis and Europcar began to chase. At the base of the day’s only categorized climb, the Cote de la Tour, Gerard’s lead was one minute. With 37 km left, the bunch reeled in the Bretagne-Seche Environnement man.

Cannondale-Garmin p/b POC accelerated at the front. Sebastian Chavanel (FDJ) punctured but chased to get back on. With 13.2 km left, Bryan Coquard (Europcar) punctured as well. Like Chavanel, the Frenchman chased and rejoined the peloton.

With 9.5 km remaining, Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step) attacked. Geraint Thomas (Sky), Lars Boom (Astana), and Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo Bank) joined the German. Lotto-Soudal, LottoNL-Jumbo, and Lampre-Merida chased and narrowed the gap. Breschel sat up, and the other three escapees pressed on but were reeled in with 1.6 km to go. Greipel jumped first and held off Demare for the win.

For Greipel and Lotto-Soudal, today’s sprint went differently from yesterday’s. “Yesterday all went wrong that could go wrong, and the whole team was determined to set things straight today,” the Lotto-Soudal man said. “It was a different sprint preparation than usual because of the attack of Martin, Thomas and Boom, but thanks to the reaction of Tony Gallopin and Tim Wellens we maintained a good position. We came to the front with more than three kilometres to go. Orica obviously had a plan, but we got in their slipstream with 800 m to go. I was afraid that Greg Henderson began the sprint too early with the headwind, but I could take over and leave the rest behind me.”

In the overall, Kwiatkowski leads Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) by a fraction of a second and Degenkolb by 0:02. Stage 3 will be one of the last chances for a sprinter to win. The rolling, 179-km ride from Saint-Amand-Montrond to Saint-Pourcain-sur-Sioule will feature three Category 3 ascents, but the run to the finish will be slightly uphill. Who will win? Degenkolb? Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis)? Alexander Kristoff (Katusha)? Greipel? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!