Sagan wins his second stage with audacious attack

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Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) won the 157km fifth stage of Paris-Nice between Pernes-les-Fontaines and Aix-en-Provence. The Slovakian neo-pro won his second stage of the race in just five days, with an audacious attack with three kilometres to go. Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) failed to catch him before the line and rounded out the top three.

Alberto Contador (Astana) finished two seconds down, in tenth place, with the majority of favourites, and retained his overall lead.

“It was a terrible stage," Contador said. " We tried to control the breaks for 100 kms but it’s impossible for one team to control a race like Paris-Nice. Sagan is a very strong rider and I’m sure he will very quickly be a rival to watch in future races. Tomorrow is another hard stage with 220 kms. I may be the one in the yellow jersey but I’m not the only one who can do something tomorrow.”

After the cold conditions of the last few days, the fifth stage begun in perfect sunshine and despite yesterday’s efforts into Mende, the peloton was in no mood to relax and chased each of the attacks. Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) was the first rider to break clear and was quickly joined by four other riders. However the Astana-led bunch were intent on keeping things together with the second hour of racing rattled off at 45km/h.

The pace proved too hot for some, including Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) who was over six minutes down with over 100 kilometres still to race.

With around 50 kilometres to go, Carlos Barredo (Quick Step), Volodymir Gustov (Cervélo) and Sylvain Calzati (Team Sky) broke free and the trio soon became a foursome with Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) joining in the action.

The leaders sped on and their advantage peaked at 1:20 before a combination of Astana, Caisse d'Epargne and Euskaltel - Euskadi began to work together. As the lead began to slip Taaramae sat up, happy to have secured the final mountain points.

With 25 kilometres remaining and the break almost in sight, Ag2R moved to the front and set what looked like a furious pace in order to set up Nicolas Roche for a sprint. The pace was too high for many, with Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) one of many casualties, along with an unfortunate Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom) who punctured and was forced to take a teammate’s bike.

With Cyril Dessel and Dimitri Champion leading Ag2R aggressive pace the stage looked set for a sprint finish but with three kilometres to go the front group of about 50 riders was forced to take a swift left-hand bend before a sharp climb.

It was another Frenchman, Christophe Le Mevel (Francaise Des Jeux), who was first to attack as the peloton slowed. He got a small gap but Sagan was the first to respond, catching the Frenchman and then launching himself up the road and cresting the top of the climb alone.

The powerful Slovak had the strength to stay clear on the run in and despite brave attempts from David Millar (Garmin-Transitions), Roche, and a final surge to the line from Valverde, Sagan hung on for his second win of the race and his blossoming career.