With UAE Team Emirates

Großschartner wins Paris-Nice team time trial!

Felix Großschartner and his UAE Team Emirates have won the team time trial at the traditional Paris-Nice cycling race! The Upper Austrian and his colleagues also benefited from the later onset of rain and won on Tuesday in Auxerre after 26.9 kilometers in 31:23 minutes ahead of Jayco Alula (+0:15 sec.) and EF Education (+0:20). The American Brandon McNulty from the victorious Emirates team took the overall leader's yellow jersey. 

Großschartner himself lost over three minutes in the time trial and was no longer able to keep up with his team at the halfway point. However, hardly any of the teams made it to the finish at full strength, with many of them only having two or three riders left at the end.

While the Großschartner team was able to complete the stage in the dry, the rain ruined a good time for the top favorites Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic. The Belgian Evenepoel and his team Soudal Quick-Step had to settle for 4th place (+22 seconds) and is in 8th place overall, 18 seconds behind. Roglic, captain of Marco Haller at Bora-hansgrohe, lost 54 seconds with the German team in 11th place and ranks 28th overall with this deficit. The Decathlon AG2R team with Felix Gall finished in 8th place, 39 seconds behind.

In the overall standings Gall is 24th (+42 sec.), Großschartner (+3:41 min.) and Haller (+8:30) are 6th and 126th. There could be major changes in the overall standings on Wednesday when the fourth stage after the start in Chalon-sur-Saone features seven mountain stages. The finish is on Mont Brouilly after a three-kilometer climb with an average gradient of 7.6 percent.

Jasper Philipsen wins stage at Tirreno-Adriatico
Meanwhile, Jasper Philipsen won stage 2 at Tirreno-Adriatico. The 26-year-old Belgian won the sprint after 198 kilometers in Follonica ahead of his compatriot Tim Merlier and the Frenchman Axel Zingle. Patrick Gamper (Bora) crossed the finish line with the peloton, Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was 2:29 minutes behind. Juan Ayuso successfully defended his lead in the overall classification, the 21-year-old Spaniard is still one second ahead of the Italian Filippo Ganna. The Danish Tour de France winner and favorite Jonas Vingegaard lurks 22 seconds behind Ayuso.