Stage



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March 6 update: Stage 2 revisits the prologue hosts from 2009 and 2010 for a road stage. In 2010, Paris-Nice started in Montfort l’Amaury which will host the stage 2 start this year and in 2009 we had a prologue in Amilly, the finsh for this year's stage 2. In 2009, last year's overall winner, Alberto Contador, won the Amilly prologue (pictured above). This year, he raced and won Vuelta a Murcia which finished on Sunday with a individual time-trial that he also won.

This stage is a chance for the sprinters to get it right after misjudging the break on stage 1; however, we'll a have more narrow French countryside roads and there will be a strong 25 kph crosswind most of route into Amily where it will turn into a tailwind for the last 8 km. Stage 2 is the flattest stage of this year's race and the headwind in the later half of the stage should doom the break. — Steve