A powerful surge on the final uphill straight secured Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) an impressive win in the second stage in Paris-Nice. With bad luck taking him out yesterday, the strong German was delighted at his revenge.

Marcel Kittel entered yesterday's first stage of Paris-Nice as the big favorite, but an untimely puncture forced him out of contention. Going into today's second stage, he was out to make amends for the missed opportunity.

With a powerful sprint, he did just that as the bunch arrived together at the end of the day's 200,5 km. He surged down the right hand side of the road to win convincingly ahead of new race leader Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEdge).

After missing out in the Tour Down Under in January, the victory was German's first on the WorldTour this season, and yesterday's tough luck made the victory even sweeter.

“Yesterday we had bad luck," Kittel explained after the race. "I punctured at a key moment in the race and missed the first group, so we had to take revenge, and that is exactly what we did."

The team took responsibility

Race leader Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) had crashed out of the race with 52 km remaining when a break of 4 riders was still clear of the peloton. With FDJ having been in command of the chase for the first part of the stage, their captain's abandonment made the team stop its effort.

For some moments, it was unclear which team should take over at the head of the peloton. Finally, Kittel put Tom Stamsnijder on the front, and with the help of Simon Clarke (Orica-Greenedge) and Tom Boonen (OmegaPharma-QuickStep), the break was caught-

“The last 80km were really nervous today,” Kittel explained. “We lost the race leader, Bouhanni, so his team stopped workin,g and we took the responsibility together with Orica-GreenEdge. But it was not easy to control the bunch, and it was very chaotic. When we brought back the four leaders, it became clear that we were heading for a bunch sprint."

A formidable lead-out

With the final kilometer being slightly uphill, Kittel had expressed some doubts over his ability to be competitive in the hard final. With a strong headwind, he knew that patience was the key to success.

“We had planned to stay together and come to the front with our train really late, and that’s what we did," Kittel said. "Our team did a perfect job in the finale, keeping the train together and staying up front. I was able to start the sprint late, with 200m to go, and I went around and was able to win. I am really proud of the team. It was a very long day - not easy, but everyone worked hard until the final meters."

With hard climbs near the finish in the next two stages, and the race entering the mountains on Friday, today's stage was probably Kittel's last chance for success. The big German is aware of his own limitations-

“Now the race for the GC will start," he declared. "I do not expect any more opportunities, so I will stay in the bunch and survive the upcoming hard days.”

Spekenbrink: a milestone for the team

Paris-Nice was one of the first WorldTour races to invite the team then known as Skil-Shimano when it was still a developing Pro Continental team. Back then its aim was to be visible in breaks. Now - several years later - the team is a ProTeam and able to be competitive in the fight for results.

With this in mind, today's victory is a testament to the development of the Dutch squad. Team manager Iwan Spekenbrink agrees in this assessment.

“This is our first stage win at Paris-Nice,” team manager Iwan Spekenbrink said. “It has always been an important race for us, and we are very proud now to take this win, especially in this way with such dedicated teamwork. We saw intellect, courage and communication, and Marcel finished it off with a beautiful sprint. We can call this a milestone for the team.”

With the hard stages coming up and the team not aiming for a GC result, Argos-Shimano will look to riders like Thierry Hupond or maybe Tour de l'Avenir winner Warren Barguil to enter into escapes when the race continues tomorrow with a 170,5 km third stage.