John Degenkolb lost some of his teammates in the sprint finish of Paris-Nice stage two today in Saint-Amand-Montrond, but pulled off a third place behind winner André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal).

“The hard final ended with a hectic sprint,” said race coach Adriaan Helmantel. “The riders lost each other a bit and John had to move in the Lotto-Soudal train, from where he started the sprint.”

Only Greipel and French Champion Arnaud Démare (FDJ) stood in the way of Degenkolb and his second race win of the year. The sprint came on the heels of a simple and ideal stage for the German.

“It was a quite easy stage,” Helmantel said. “One rider in the break [Arnaud Gerard (Bretagne)], and the peloton followed in a pretty easy tempo.”

Degenkolb should have even greater chances tomorrow as the Paris-Nice’s third stage finishes on a slight uphill to Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule.