Paris-Nice wass once again the playground for the fast wheels of the bunch. In fact, the 2nd stage ended in a mass sprint. In Saint Amand de Montrond, 172 km from the start in the Zooparc de Beauval, the best sprinters of the group battled in a very fast final part of the race.

Lampre-Merida's target was to support Niccolo Bonifazio in view of the sprint: the blue-fuchsia-green riders and Bonofazio did a good performance whose result was another one place in the top ten of the stage standing. The young Italian sprinter was 10th (the best result for an Italian rider), Greipel won the stage.

Finally Rui Costa spent a calm stage after the previous two days during which he had two crashes: he's 29th in the overall classification that is led by Kwiatkowski (Plaza is 16th).

"We always aim to the best results, but the 10th place that Bonifazio obtained today could be considered as a quite good result," Philippe Mauduit and Simone Pedrazzini, the two sport directors, agreed. "Niccolò is battling against the top sprinters, receiveing a good support by the team, and these experiences will improve his skills sprint after sprint.

"The commitment from the team and Bonifazio was also great today and a place in the top ten, also giving a look at the quality of the opposition, is to be taken into account. We expected that Niccolo could improve on the 8th place from the first stage, even considering that he started the sprint on the wheel of Demare who finished second. Unfortunately it was not an easy sprint but it will surely allow Bonifazio to accumulate valuable experience."