We don’t usually look to XDS Astana for a masterclass in sprint organization these days. But on Stage 2 of Paris-Nice, the squad pulled off a minor miracle, navigating a wildly sketchy finale to deliver Max Kanter to his first-ever WorldTour victory.
The press release insists it was a “perfect lead-out.” Anyone actually watching the broadcast knows it was absolute chaos. The peloton hit the final run-in to Montargis completely strung out, battling a frantic sequence of roundabouts that unceremoniously spat pre-race favorites like Biniam Girmay out the back.
With two kilometers to go, Kanter and his team were effectively buried.
Enter Mike Teunissen. The veteran Dutchman essentially did the work of an entire lead-out train by himself. While other teams were losing their sprinters in the wash of panicked riders, Teunissen found Kanter, dragged him through the bunch, and hit the front. He put in a monstrous pull into the final roundabout and then dropped Kanter off perfectly at the 200-meter mark.
Kanter launched and never looked back, holding off Laurence Pithie and Jasper Stuyven at the line.
It’s a massive result for the 28-year-old German, especially considering he cut through the usual post-race fluff to admit he felt so awful on Stage 1 he wasn’t even sure he’d make it to the finish line today. Instead, he walks away with the biggest win of his career and XDS Astana’s first WorldTour victory of the 2026 season.
As for the General Classification, yesterday’s breakout star Luke Lamperti survived the mess to finish fifth, keeping the overall lead safely on his shoulders for another day.
But the sprinters’ brief window of French glory is officially slamming shut. The peloton faces the team time trial tomorrow, which means the heavy GC hitters are finally going to wake up and start taking time out of each other.
Results
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