Taddei Pogachar narrowly missed taking the yellow jersey on the second stage from Paris to Nice in Fontainebleau, but he did win a 6-second bonus second in the intermediate sprint, giving Jonas Vingegaard and his rivals in the overall another step forward.

Pogachar won this intermediate sprint for the second time and took second place overall, two seconds behind Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) in the maillot jaune and 12 seconds ahead of Vingegaard.

"It could be really, really important, or it could be totally unimportant in the end.

"But usually, in cycling these days, every second counts."

Pogachar has always favored aggressive racing, a trend that was even more evident in the opening weeks of this season. The Slovenian began his campaign with a solo victory in the Clasica Jaen Paraiso Interior before completing his hat-trick of stage victories with an overall win in the Vuelta a Andalucía.

Pogachar enjoyed a rally from the front on the first day of Paris-Nice, winning the intermediate sprint with just under 13km remaining in the second stage.

His UAE Team Emirates teammate Tim Wellens provided the leadout, and Pogachar was able to hold off his friend Michael Matthews (Jayco Arla) and Nathan Van Hooydonk, who was trying to limit the damage in place of Vingegaard ( Jumbo Visma), who decided to sprint ahead of him.

"I did my best and I think I did my best sprint at that point," Pogachar said.

"The team did really well. Tomorrow is going to be a really tough team time trial, so I can be more relaxed.

Despite Pogachar's proximity to the yellow jersey, UAE Team Emirates' team ranking means they will depart ahead of Vingegaard's Jumbo Visma team on stage 3.

"We don't know the standings yet, but it's a pretty long TT so we can't check out the other teams. I just have to focus on myself and the team and do a perfect job."

In this team time trial, there is a change to the normal regulations, with the clock stopping at the first rider to cross the finish line, rather than the fourth or fifth rider UAE Team Emirates held a mini-camp near Monaco last week to plan their strategy for this stage.

"I haven't done a lot of team time trials, whether it's under special rules or normal rules," said the UAE team leader. I'm really looking forward to it, but I don't know what's going to happen yet, and I'm going to give it 100%." Asked if UAE Team Emirates had decided on a strategy for this stage, Pogachal smiled. Yes," he said. We're going full throttle."

He doesn't seem to know any other way.