Paris-Nice stage 2 LIVE: Biniam Girmay and yellow jersey Luke Lamperti among the contenders for likely bunch sprint

And now just 6 seconds for the 2 leaders, who appear to have given up the ghost.

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Just 10 seconds now. They’re going to catch them.

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Lotto’s work has brought the two leaders back to within just 20 seconds. If they catch them, then the maximum bonus second will be available to them at the intermediate sprint.

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It could be that Lotto have their eye on an intermediate sprint coming up in about 10km With Braet currently lying in second overall just 4 seconds behind Lamperti, and more bonus seconds unavailable on the line at the finish, the Belgian has a chance to get himself into the yellow jersey today.

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Lotto Intermarché haven’t just lent a man to take part in the pace-setting, but have a whole long line of riders leading at the front. It’s a committed move – but what for?

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

Lotto’s work is eating into the break’s lead. It’s now down to about 40 seconds.

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Here are the final KOM rankings of the day:

1 Pedersen 18 points

2 Le Berre 14 points

3 Walker 3 points

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Pedersen was back with his team car, seemingly discussing what the plan was now now that all of the available KOM points have been swept up. By the looks of things, he’s going to keep working with Le Berre, rather than sitting up.

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There’s a change in the peloton, as Lotto lead up the climb. They must fancy the chances of Braet at the finale today.

Pedersen outsprints Le Berre easily for the points as they go over the top.

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Le Berre is leading with Pedersen on his wheel as they approach the top.

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Having spent so long riding for this, the pair are relishing this battle. Both are looking at each other and engaging in gamesmanship.

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The leaders are climbing for the final time today, up the Côte du Pressoir. Can this be the one that Le Berre at last gets the better of Pedersen?

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After fishing runner-up yesterday, Vito Braet must be considered a favorite for the win. The Belgian is without a win of any kind during his professional career, but he’s long overdue, and that result suggests he’s capable of doing so today.

The gap is no longer falling, but holding steady again, at about 1:35.

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Notable by their absence at the front, having done so much work yesterday, are Picnic-PostNL. Their sprinter Casper van Uden was dropped out of contention on the final climb, and therefore unable to sprint despite having his teammates ride at the front of the peloton for much of the day. He cited illness as a reason for not being in top shape, but if he can recover more today he’ll be a contender.

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It’s still only NSN and EF Education-EasyPost who are doing any pace-setting at the front of the peloton. Given how open yeterday’s finish was, however, we can imagine there will be a lot of riders with a chance of winning.

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Pedersen and Le Berre, soldiering on with their (surely doomed) breakaway.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Mechanical for Nils Politt, who looks calm and has swapped bikes. No need to panic at this early, relaxed phase of the stage.

For the first time in a while, the peloton have brought back some time on the leaders. The gap’s down to 1:35.

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Jonas Vingegaard is positioned safely in the bunch, and despite not losing any time yesterday was not a happy man at the finish. He criticised the route, which he felt caused undue stress due to too many complications.

There’s another 25km until the third and final climb of the day, the category three Côte du Pressoir. Maintaining a lead of just under two minutes, the two leaders can be confident of still leading the race by the time they get there – even if the stage win feels very unlikely.

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The updated KOM rankings. Pedersen will again wear the polka-dot jersey tomorrow, so long as he successfully finishes today’s stage.

1 Pedersen 15 points

2 Le Berre 12 points

3 Walker 3 points

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Two minutes later, Guillaume Boivin of NSN lead the peloton over the summit.

Once again it’s Pedersen who takes the honours at the top of the climb ahead of Le Berre.

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The two leaders are on the climb.

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This one is the Côte de Villeconin, and it’s another modest affair, lasting just 1km at an average of 6.1%.

With the gap still at two minutes, we’re about to have some action between the two brekaway riders as they approach the foot of the second climb of the day.

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Still it’s NSN who lead the peloton. This is a big statement of intent regarding how confident they are in Biniam Girmay’s ability to land them a stage win today.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The gap’s come down a little, to two minutes. But the peloton remains relaxed for now.

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Luke Lamperti in the bunch, on a day where he’s seeking to both retain the yellow jersey, and potentially add a second stage win to his success yesterday. That result felt like a major breakthrough in the young American’s career, and proved his potential as a potentially elite sprinter.

The race remains in a holding pattern, the leading duo being left out ahead with a lead of 2:20 over the peloton.

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They might be down to just two riders, but the break’s lead has grown to its highest margin so far, 2:30. The peloton is in no rush to bring them back.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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While things remain quiet here for now, have a read of the big news today that the Ineos Grenadiers team are set for a major budget boost having secured a new title sponsor.

Two minutes is the gap between the peloton and the leaders, whose taks has become even more difficult now they’re down to just two.

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The three riders at the front, that has now become two.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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It seems that that’s job done for Vercher. He’s sat up and waiting for the peloton to collect him.

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Here are the updated classifications:

1 Pedersen 12 points

2 Le Berre 10 points

3 Walker 3 points

Success once again for Pedersen. He picks up from where he left off yesterday, and takes the points at the top of the climb ahead of Le Berre and Vercher.

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(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Here are the KOM rankings as things stand. Pedersen was comfortably the strongest yesterday, but Le Berre kept himself in contention, and today has his teammate Vercher to try to help him work over the man in the polka-dot jersey.

1 Pedersen 9 points

2 Le Berre 8

3 Walker 3

4 Grignard 2

5 Gamper 2

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Said climb is the Côte des Mesnuls, a 1.2km effort averaging 5.5%. Its greatest significance will be staging a resumption of the rivalry between Pedersen and Le Berre in the break, as they fight it out for KOM points.

The gap between the three leaders and the peloton continues to hover around two minutes, as they approach the first of the day’s three climbs.

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And here are the three remaining riders, Pedersen, Le Berre and Vercher.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Here were the four riders together before Sütterlin dropped back.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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At some point, Sütterlin must have thought better of taking part in the day’s break and determined it wasn’t worth the effort.

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Despite having attacked earlier, Jasha Sütterlin is not actually in the break. He’s back in the peloton, leaving just the three riders up the road.

The gap’s been allowed to grow to 1:50, and the peloton is keeping it pegged there for now.

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Pleasant skies and nice conditions greet the riders today, further swinging the advantage towards the sprinters.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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That said, yesterday the break came far closer than expected to surviving to the finish, so we can’t rule them out. And that’s a pretty strong quartet, with two of the men who did so well to hold off the peloton for so long yesterday.

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That was an especially complicated process. The unlikelyhood of the break succeeding on such a flat stage is reflected in how little interest there was among the riders in the peloton to get into the break.

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Sütterlin does indeed sit up and wait for Pedersen, Le Berre and Vercher to join him, and the four are 1:45 ahead of the peloton. We have our break of the day.

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The three chasers still have a few seconds to make up on Sütterlin, but it looks like these four riders will form the break of the day.

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The peloton seems to have sat up – they’re already over a minute behind.

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Two of the riders who were in the break yesterday, Casper Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step) and Mathis Le Berre TotalEnergies), are chasing, along with Le Berre’s teammate Matteo Vercher.

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Jasha Sütterlin is the Jayco rider at the front, and he leads the race by a few seconds ahead of three chasers.

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The riders at the unofficial start.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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A Jayco rider is the first to make a move, and another rider is trying to join him.

And they’re off!

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Paris-Nice isn’t the only World Tour racing taking place today – over in Italy Tirreno-Adriatico has gotton under way. We’ve got live coverage of that race, too.