The Netherlands' Fabio Jakobsen sprinted to victory on stage two of Paris-Nice ©Getty Images

The Netherlands’ Fabio Jakobsen sprinted to victory on the second stage of Paris-Nice in Orléans on a day dominated by crosswinds.

The difficult conditions on the 159.2 kilometres stage from Auffargis to Orléans caused several splits in the peloton, catching out several general classification and sprint hopefuls.

Two-time defending champion Maximilian Schachmann of Germany was among the riders to fail to make a leading group of nearly 40 riders in the International Cycling Union World Tour event. 

His BORA – Hansgrohe team-mate Sam Bennett had been able to re-join the leading group, but the Irish rider was unable to contest the final sprint.

The sprint saw a duel between Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team's Jakobsen and Belgium’s Wout van Aert, with the latter lead out by his Jumbo-Visma team-mate and race leader Christophe Laporte of France.

Van Aert appeared to have the early advantage, but a surge from Jakobsen saw the Dutchman claim the stage win in 3 hours 22min 54sec.

Van Aert finished second on the same time, with Laporte following in third.

"We know Paris-Nice is about echelons and sprints in the first days, we love echelons with Quick-Step," Jakobsen said.

"We were four in the finale and I’m delighted I could sprint for the win.

"Jumbo-Visma were strong again, it wasn’t easy to follow them but we were very motivated.

"The legs hurt but we fought for it.

"They went first but I was able to go past Van Aert on the right.

"It was slightly uphill but I like this type of finishes."

Christophe Laporte remains in the overall race lead ©Getty Images
Christophe Laporte remains in the overall race lead ©Getty Images

Laporte remains in the race leader’s yellow jersey, having added a further five bonus seconds following his third-place finish on the stage.

The French rider leads by five seconds from team-mate Van Aert.

The all Jumbo-Visma top three is completed by Primož Roglič, the Slovenian lying 11 seconds off the race lead.

Roglič is expected to be their general classification contender at the race, having crashed out when leading on the final stage last year.

He already enjoys an advantage of more than two minutes over Schachmann, whose hopes of a third consecutive title suffered an early blow.

The third stage tomorrow is due to see the peloton complete a 190.8km route from Vierzon to Dun-le-Palestel.