Paris-Nice stage 3: Alejandro Valverde wins in Lac de Vassivière

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Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) continued his winning return from suspension for his part in Operacion Puerto by winning stage three of Paris-Nice at Lac de Vassivière. In a tight uphill sprint, the Spaniard just about held off the fast-finishing Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) to claim his fourth victory since his ban expired in January and edge ten seconds closer to the overall lead of Bradley Wiggins (Sky).

As was the case during that suspension, Valverde enjoyed robust support from his Movistar team on the road to Lac de Vassivière. They injected urgency into the peloton’s pursuit of the early break with 35km to go, and José Joaquin Rojas et al were again on hand to marshal Valverde towards the front underneath the red kite.

“I’m thrilled, it’s a very important victory,” Valverde said afterwards. “I have to thank the team again because they have done a phenomenal job and I was able to finish it off. This victory was for them because they deserve it.”

Valverde held his nerve when first Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) and then Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) launched their sprints from distance in the finale. The Spaniard bided his time until the final 250 metres, before cruising past Sanchez, seemingly on his way to a comfortable victory.

He was to endure a late scare, however, as Australian champion Simon Gerrans ghosted onto his right shoulder inside the last 50 metres, and both riders lunged for the line simultaneously. Gerrans had been nowhere to be seen on the run-in to the finish, but he somehow managed to pick his way through the bodies to renew hostilities with Valverde, who had already pipped him for stage victory in similar circumstances atop Old Willunga Hill in January’s Tour Down Under. Gianni Meersman (Lotto Belisol) came home in third, just ahead of Sanchez and Xavier Florencio (Katusha).

Valverde had just enough in reserve to fend off Gerrans, although his surprise was palpable and on crossing the line, he appeared to ask his dauphin if he had indeed held on for the win. Nonetheless, Valverde was somewhat more phlegmatic when he spoke to the press afterwards.

“The finale was very tight and I won narrowly, so thanks to Simon, because it was a nice fight,” he said succinctly.

Omega Pharma-QuickStep turn on the pressure

While Movistar’s support of Valverde was the story of the day, it was another team, Omega Pharma-QuickStep, who turned in the greatest show of collective might on the day, even ultimately if they were unable to trouble the in-form Bradley Wiggins, who remains 6 seconds clear of Levi Leipheimer and 11 ahead of Tejay Van Garderen (BMC).

After the previous day’s exercise in echelon warfare, there was something of a truce in the peloton in the early exchanges on Tuesday. A trio of escapees, Michael Mørkøv (Saxo Bank), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) and Roy Curvers (Project 1t4i) were issued with a bon de sortie in the opening kilometres and they duly set about building up a lead of 4:30 while the peloton ambled along behind, now bereft of Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), a non-starter due to a bout of gastroenteritis.

Their gap slowly began to dwindle in the final 50 kilometres, but it was only when first Movistar and then Omega Pharma-QuickStep took over at the head of the bunch on the run-in to the Côte de Bourganeuf that any particular focus was afforded to the peloton’s pursuit.

With the uphill finish always liable to be too difficult for Tom Boonen’s tastes, it was quickly apparent that Omega Pharma-QuickStep were looking to set something up for their men Sylvain Chavanel and Levi Leipheimer, and put the boot in on some of the flagging overall contenders for good measure.

On the rolling roads that punctuated the finale, their efforts paid some dividend, albeit perhaps not as rich a one as they would have liked. Boonen himself put in a monstrous turn with 6km to go as the road began to climb towards Lac de Vassivière, while behind, riders such as Taylor Phinney, Thor Hushovd (BMC) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) were being jettisoned out the rear of the bunch.

By this point, Omega Pharma-QuickStep had succeeded in reeling in Engoulvent, the last survivor of the day’s early break, but in spite of Tony Martin’s stint of tempo riding with 4km to go, their efforts were having no effect on the implacable Wiggins, who sat comfortably towards the front of the bunch.

As if disheartened by the ease of Wiggins’ pedalling, the Omega Pharma-QuickStep pace slackened once Martin swung off, and Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) enjoyed a rally off the front on the steepest section of the climb that was only snuffed out when Movistar upped the ante in support of Valverde.

The Spaniard duly emerged from the gloom in the closing metres to take victory at a significant outpost for the Reynolds-Banesto-Movistar dynasty, as Lac de Vassivière was the site of Miguel Indurain’s final Tour de France stage victory in 1995. He may disingenuously claim that he does not know why he was suspended, but Valverde’s understanding of his team’s history is rather less muddled.

“It gives me tremendous joy to be the next Spaniard to win here after Indurain,” Valverde said.

The win brings Valverde to within twenty seconds of Wiggins’ overall lead, but the Briton remains the man to beat. Faultless over the three days of racing to date, Wiggins will himself hope to emulate Indurain by sealing overall victory at Col d’Eze on Sunday, as the man from Navarra did in 1989 and 1990.