Teams talk about increasing 'stress level' in peloton, Visma | Lease a Bike unscathed day before TTT

Hectic and stressful: that was the general consensus among the riders after the second stage in Paris-Nice. Numerous crashes during the stage only added to the hectic atmosphere in the run-up to another bunch sprint.

For Visma | Lease a Bike, it was mainly a matter of staying out of trouble. "We knew it was going to be a nervous stage," said team leader Grischa Niermann on the team's website, who is satisfied that his riders came through unscathed. "Our goal was to keep Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson out of trouble, and we managed that once again. The key was to get through these first two stages safely. Now, we can fully focus on tomorrow's team time trial."

The 28-kilometer team time trial on rolling roads includes a short but steep climb at the end. "Ideally, we will be competing for the stage win," Niermann says, looking ahead. "Given that the individual times of each rider will count, we hope we can bring Jonas and Matteo to the finish line together. We are convinced we have a strong selection, but the competition is tough. It will be a good battle for sure."

Axel Zingle, who sprinted to sixth place in the bunch sprint ('the sprint felt like Alpe d'Huez'), is also looking forward to the team time trial. "I enjoyed today's performance by the boys. Tomorrow's team time trial is an important challenge. There is some pressure, but I'm looking forward to riding the time trial with this strong team."

Text continues below.

Pedersen and Skjelmose see 'stress level' rise

At Lidl-Trek, with Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose as leaders, the race was also mainly about the hectic pace. "It started as early as sixty, seventy kilometers from the finish," said Pedersen about how early teams start positioning themselves at the front. "The level is incredibly high, but that may be the way of racing these days."

His Danish compatriot and teammate also discussed the race's 'stress level'. "It keeps going up. But it's bicycle racing, so I must keep up with them. You can't make a rule that says there can't be any more sprints before a turn. Suppose you have a team that is strong enough to keep you from the front; why wouldn't you do it? Then, you won't be caught up in the crashes. It's annoying, but we don't have the team to do this either."

This is how Skjelmose ended up in the middle of a few bottlenecks in the race final. "At first, I wasn't panicking, but I did start to get a bit more nervous. But I had Otto Vergaerde with me, which was good and also why he is here. Movistar and UAE also showed up. By then, I wasn't stressing anymore. I was sure we would close the gap."

Read also

The cycling world is stumped by Pogacar, but after a bizarre winter, Ayuso could make UAE even stronger

Favorites stage 3 Paris-Nice 2025 | Final test for the first yellow jersey of the 2026 Tour de France

Favorites stage 2 Tirreno-Adriatico 2025 | The streets of Follonica are paved for a sprinter in top form

Course and results Paris-Nice 2025 | Merlier in yellow for special TTT stage on French circuit

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get every week the latest news about CYCLING in your inbox!

Subscribe