Contador passes Paris-Nice tests

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Alberto Contador (Astana) secured his second overall Paris-Nice victory on Sunday but had to fight for it all the way to the line.

Alessandro Valverde's Caisse d'Epargne team took turns attacking Contador on the final ascent of the Col d'Eze and even on the downhill run to Nice. However unlike last year, Contador never panicked when under pressure, letting the leading group control the attacks as other riders tried to win the stage. That meant Contador could celebrate winning on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, just like he did in 2007 when he first emerged as a stage race winner.

Mountains classification winner Amaël Moinard (Cofidis) confirmed the successful return of the French with a surprise stage victory over breakaway companion Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom). They were part of the key break that formed on the first climb of the 119km stage and worked hard to stay away.

Voeckler panicked, thinking the peloton would catch the two in the final kilometre and lead out the sprint. Moinard could hardly believe his luck, got on his wheel and then surged past to win the stage.

Moinard hugged his Cofidis teammates after beating Voeckler to win the stage and was clearly overjoyed to have won in Nice and taken the climber's polka-dot jersey.

"I was already super happy with my polka-dot jersey, and a stage victory makes it even more extraordinary," Moinard said according to letour.fr. "It was a tough day out there with Thomas (Voeckler), because we did not have much of as gap and he attacked me on the climb of Col d'Eze."

"I wasn't worried because I know the climb really well and I was confident I could get back up to him because I paced myself. He put me under a bit of a pressure with two kilometres to go but I wasn't worried. I let him lead us in and got in his slipstream before passing him before the finish line. It was the right thing to do because I won."

Valverde finished third from the yellow jersey group three seconds later to take second overall, 11 seconds behind Contador, with his Caisse d'Epargne teammate and 2009 winner Luis Leon Sanchez third at 25 seconds, completing an all-Spanish podium.

"It's very difficult to win a race when you're the favourite. When everybody is after you and you win, it's a liberation," Contador told letour.fr.

"Today it was short but intense as I had to reply to every attack. It was a great emotion on the podium as it would have been a pity to lose a big race like Paris-Nice on sprint bonuses."

The apparent weakness of Contador's Astana team sparked questions about what could happen at the Tour de France, where the Schleck brothers and especially Lance Armstrong's powerful RadioShack team will be looking to take advantage of his weaknesses.

"The first thing to do is not to get carried away and to analyse things calmly without losing sight of your priorities," he said.

"As the years go by, I've progressed in terms of experience and maturity. My legs are fine, my head is too, I hope the team will be even stronger in July to help me win the Tour. There are about seven or eight riders who can win the Tour because of their individual or their collective strength. I'm one of them."

A nervous start to a short stage

With just 119km to cover before the finish line in Nice, the start of the race was a flurry of attacks. The bunch stayed largely together as Peter Sagan secured his points jersey with a win on the first intermediate sprint of the day at kilometre 18.5.

In the heat of the action at kilometre 30 a large crash sent five riders home, but before the day was over a third of the peloton would pack up early.

It wasn't until the first climb of the Col de Porte that Moinard and Voeckler made their move, and they were given a two minute lead over the La Turbie.

But at the base of the Col d'Eze, the gap began to plummet, and near the top, the pair had just 35 seconds as Contador set off in pursuit, dragging along Luis Leon Sanchez, Valvede, Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).

Rodriguez became the aggressor as the group went over the top, and he opened up a bit of a gap on the descent before Taaramae closed it down.

As the attacks continued up front a large group containing best young rider Roman Kreuziger, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) previous leader Jens Voigt and RadioShack's Tiago Machado among others caught back up to the Contador group.

Machado quickly countered and set off in pursuit of the two leaders. Luis Leon Sanchez briefly escaped the clutches of the yellow jersey group and reached the young Portuguese rider, putting a bit of threat to Contador's overall lead.

With the kilometres clicking down to the single digits, Contador was forced to come to the front and chase, but then Voigt attacked from behind and dragged Machado and Sanchez back into the fold.

The chasers could see the leaders but the line came too soon for them to close the remaining three seconds. Voeckler led the sprint out and looked as if he could get the win, but Moinard came past just in time to raise his arms in joy.

Valverde led home the chasing bunch and claimed the time bonus on the line, but it didn't change the order of the overall classification and Contador walked away with his second Paris-Nice title.