Sagan powers to stage 5 win, Contador retains jersey

Sagan gets his second stage win in this year's Paris-Nice.

Liquigas neo-pro Peter Sagan scored his second stage victory in this year’s Paris-Nice with a bold solo attack in the final two kilometers of a wild and hilly 157-kilometer stage on Friday.

Sagan, who also won Wednesday’s stage to Aurillac, emerged from a group of about 40 survivors on what turned out to be a tougher-than-expected race from Pernes-les-Fontaines to Aix-en-Provence .

As the remnants of the peloton neared the finish, the 20-year-old Sagan fought for a good position leading into a hard left-hand turn on to a narrow road about 1.5km from the line. Jumping out of the turn and on to a small rise, Sagan quickly built up a small five-second advantage on the field and powered into the finish, holding on to a narrow two-second advantage as he celebrated his second win of this race and of his professional career.

“I like to attack on the final hill,” said Sagan, a former world junior mountain bike champion.

While racing Paris-Nice in support of teammate Roman Kreuziger, the young Slovak has made an impressive mark on the week-long stage race, winning two stages and leading the points competition. Kreuziger is now third in the overall standings and leads the best young rider completion, while Sagan is eighth on GC and second in the race for the white jersey.

Astana’s Alberto Contador retained the yellow jersey he earned with a win at the mountain-top finish in Mende on Thursday.

Contador compared Friday's race to a Tour stage, "but the hard ones.”

Racing to the sun
After a 200km transfer from Thursday’s stage finish at Mende, riders lined up for Friday’s relatively short stage under sunny skies and slightly warmer temperatures than those that have marked the race since the start on Sunday.

Riders, who have spent much of the past few days bundled in layers of clothing seemed much more comfortable as the peloton rolled out of Pernes-les-Fontaines at 1:00 in the afternoon.

The day’s route was marked by four rated climbs, the most difficult of which — the Category 2 Col de Murs — summited just 40km into the stage.

The peloton stayed relatively intact on the approach to the climb although the small trip up the unranked Cote de Mormoiron began a day-long process of riders falling off pace. On the slopes of the Col de Murs, the attrition began in earnest with a large group of riders slipping off the back of the main field, including KOM leader Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun).

A few riders — including Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) — took their chances on the climb, but the peloton seemed unwilling to let anyone get too much of a gap. French national champion, Dimitri Champion (Ag2r) managed to build a small 10-second gap and led the field over the top of the climb. By the bottom of a long descent, however, the Frenchman’s escape was over.

Another Ag2r rider — Maxime Bouet — soon tried his own charge off the front, but he, too, never managed to get more than 20 seconds on the field, even when he was joined by a group of six other riders hoping to establish the day’s break.

Indeed, the day seemed to be defined by aggressive riding by the French teams in the field, with attacks coming from Bbox, Cofidis and Ag2r. At one point, Bbox’s Thomas Voeckler managed to scamper ahead to win three seconds of time bonus at the day’s first intermediate sprint, moving him up into the top-10 in the overall standings, ahead of Cofidis’ Estonian national champion Reine Taaramae.

The peloton hits the Côte de Bonnieux.

Meanwhile, with Mangel dropped earlier in the race, Cofidis’s Amaël Moinard worked to amass KOM points. He earned five as the second rider over the Col de Murs, one as the third rider over the Cat. 3 Côte de Lacoste, and another two as the second rider over the Côte de Bonnieux. It was enough to move him into the top spot in the race for the Polka-Dot jersey, ending the day with a total of 21, three more than the trailing Mangel.

While none of those climbs — or the day’s final ascent, the Cat. 3 Côte de Saint-Canadet – had much impact on race favorites, the attrition continued throughout the day.

It was on the approach to that final climb that saw the day’s most “successful” escape form. Volodymir Gustov (Cervelo), Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) and Sylvain Clazati (Sky) managed to build a small 30-second advantage when Cofidis’ Taaramae fought to bridge up to the group. While the 22-year-old Estonian could lend additional horsepower, his presence in the break also meant the escapees stood little chance of simply slipping away from a disinterested peloton.

Only 1:06 out of first place on GC, Taaramae caused the peloton to ramp up its chase, but the quartet managed to crest the final climb with a 50-second lead. After grabbing top points on the climb and helping his teammate deny anyone else a shot at them, Taaramae seemed content to slip back to the main field and ride in with the peloton over the final 30km.

But even with the top GC threat out of the break, the other three escapees’ chances quickly evaporated as the Ag2r team massed at the front of the field and ramped up the chase. The effect was not only to doom the break’s chances, but also cause a split in the field, reducing its size to around 50 riders.

One early victim of the split was Voeckler, who suffered an untimely flat tire and then fought to regain contact. By the time he was able to get help from his teammates, Voeckler could only manage to gain contact with the back of a growing chase group of riders who’d been gapped by the Ag2r effort at the front. RadioShack’s Levi Leipheimer was among those who missed the split and eventually finished more than two-and-a-half minutes behind the day’s winner.

While Ag2r worked at the front of the field, apparently in hopes of setting up Nicholas Roche for the win, other teams benefited from the effort and in the final kilometers, the mad scramble for position began.

Sagan was the strongest of the riders who made it through the dangerous turn at 1.5km-to-go and the Slovakian timed his acceleration to perfection, charging out of the turn and on to a small rise that peaked out just 600 meters from the line. At best, Sagan managed to build up a five-second lead, but that’s all he needed, crossing the line with a small two-second buffer on a hard-charging back of 25 riders.

The order of the top-10 in overall standings changed little, with Contador still holding a 20-second lead over Caisse d’Epargne’s Alejandro Valverde and 25 on Kreuziger.

Contador said he had to stay attentive throughout, comparing Friday’s race to a stage in the Tour de France.

“It was like a Tour stage, but the hard ones,” Contador said. “It was tough to control as there were a number of riders just a few seconds apart. I felt good today but you have to have a very very good team to control things. It’s a race easier to win by counter-attacking than being on the defensive.

Sagan, exhausted after his win, collapsed on a grassy area near the finish. He said was thrilled with his win on Wednesday and found his second victory to be “even more unbelievable.”

“After my first stage win three television crews went to my house to interview my parents,” he said.

We have to assume his parents will get more visitors on Friday.

Saturday’s sixth stage, the longest of this year’s race, is a 220km ride from Peynier to Tourrettes-sur-Loup. The stage features eight rated climbs, culminating in the Category 1 Col de Vence, a 9.7km climb that averages 6.9 percent. The climb, however, summits at the 187km mark, 33km from the finish.