Paris-Nice respected its nickname The race to the sun this afternoon with the finish in Nice under a blue and sunny sky. On the Promenade des Anglais Amaël Moinard finished first in the sprint with Thomas Voeckler while Alberto Contador wins the second Paris-Nice of his career, after 2007.

A summary of yesterday's stage, between Peynier and Tourrettes-sur-Loup and today's stage on the circuit around Nice, with the first photos of these stages (the other photos will be published in the next few days!).

Spain's empire, the revelation Peter Sagan

If one should summarise Paris-Nice 2010 in a few words, we would definitely mention the Spanish domination of this 68th edition of the Race to the sun with no less than 5 places in the top 10 occupied by France's southern neighbours (of which the 3 first places for Alberto Contador [Astana], Alejandro Valverde [Caisse d'Epargne] and Luis Léon Sanchez [Caisse d'Epargne]), but also the revelation of Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) who wins at only 20 years old and in his first year as a pro no less than two stages of Paris-Nice 2010 (Saint-Junien > Aurillac and Pernes-les-Fontaines > Aix-en-Provence) and the green jersey of the classification by points (in addition to a second place behind William Bonnet in the Contres > Limoges stage).

A summary of the last stage of Paris-Nice 2010 around Nice

Today the last stage of Paris-Nice 2010 took place on the usual circuit around Nice, with start and finish on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

4 riders didn't start this morning (Greg Henderson [Team Sky, who won the first stage Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines > Contres], Julien Loubet [AG2R La Mondiale], Nikolas Maes [Omega Pharma-Lotto] and Romain Feillu [Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team]) and among the 148 riders who started in this last stage, many of them (51) gave up during the stage, of whom André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) and Daniel Lloyd (Cervélo TestTeam) (photo), 4 riders of the Caisse d'Epargne team, of Quick Step, of Saur-Sojasun, of Skil-Shimano, of Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team and no less than 6 riders of the Rabobank team, among whom Lars Boom who made a good start of Paris-Nice with his victory in the prologue in Montfort-l'Amaury.

The top 5 of the general classification was quite close with only 29 seconds between the leader Alberto Contador (Astana) and the number 5, the Olympic Champion, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). Only 14 seconds separated Contador from the number 2, Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne).

It was therefore not very surprising that the early attacks by Jens Mouris (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team) and Lars Boom (Rabobank) at kilometer 2 and the one by Tiago Machado (Team Radioshack) and Julien El Farès (Cofidis) at kilometer 8 were rapidly neutralised by the peloton. Indeed, with 16 bonification seconds to be distributed at the two intermediate sprints and at the stage finish, Alejandro Valverde still had a bit of hope to win Paris-Nice 2010.
On his team's web site he declared: If one could win everything we would like to win, that would be great. I am very close every day, which proves that I'm in a very good condition, but I'm still missing something every time which makes it impossible to win (...) The great work by my team every day is really worth mentioning and it is thus a pity that I haven't been able to thank them with a stage win, but there's still one chance. I think many things can still happen tomorrow and one thing is sure: I will do everything I can to win.

At the sprint at Plan du Var however, it was the young Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) who took the 3 points and the 3 bonification seconds, ahead of Alejandro Valverde's team mate, Luis Léon Sanchez and Sagan's team mate, Aleksandr Kuchynski. Sanchez thus climbs on the Paris-Nice 2010 podium since thanks to the 2 bonification seconds he passes the best young rider, Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo).

Several new attacks than follow, but they are all neutralised until the one by David Lopez Garcia (Caisse d'Epargne), Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and the polka dot jersey Amaël Moinard (Cofidis), at the foot of the first climb of the day, the Col de la Porte. Finally the Spanish rider decides not to continue in this leading group and the two French riders thus become a leading duo.
Their gap with the peloton goes up to 2'25" in the climb to La Turbie. In the 20 last kilometers, a new group is formed behind them following an attack by Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha) who gets company from several riders, including the yellow jersey Alberto Contador and his runner-up, Alejandro Valverde.

However, the two leading riders stay ahead, with still a 14 seconds lead at the flamme rouge of the last kilometer and the stage victory is thus decided in a sprint of the two French riders. Thomas Voeckler is the first to attack at around 75 meters from the finish, but Amaël Moinard finally shows that close to his home (he lives in Saint-Laurent-du-Var) he has the best legs since he gets over Voeckler in the 25 last meters and thus wins this last stage.

The result of the stage Nice > Nice

Behind Moinard and Voeckler, Alejandro Valverde wins the sprint of the peloton, thus taking 3 bonification seconds which allow him to get a bit closer to Alberto Contador who finishes 10th in this stage.
1/ Amaël Moinard (Cofidis)
2/ Thomas Voeckler (photo, Bbox Bouygues Telecom)
3/ Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) - +00'03"
4/ Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale)
5/ Rein Taaramae (Cofidis)
6/ Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha)
7/ Jens Voigt (Team Saxo Bank)
8/ Christopher Horner (Team Radioshack)
9/ Janez Brajkovic (Team Radioshack)
10/ Alberto Contador (Astana)

A summary of the stage Peynier > Tourrettes-sur-Loup

more to follow ...

The result of the stage Peynier > Tourrettes-sur-Loup

1/ Xavier Tondo (Cervélo TestTeam) - 5h01'39"
2/ Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) - +00'05"
3/ Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo)
4/ Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
5/ Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha)

The final classifications of Paris-Nice 2010

General classification

After his fall early this week and the bad surprise in the first stage towards Contres where the Caisse d'Epargne team attacked at the right moment on a flat part with sidewind (based on a suggestion from the strategist and directeur sportif of the Spanish team with a French sponsor, Yvon Ledanois)*, Alberto Contador made a very good comeback with his victory in Mende. Since than, he had to defend his jersey, especially against the attacks by the Caisse d'Epargne team which was in the comfortable position of having two leaders in the race, Alejandro Valverde and Luis Léon Sanchez.

* some people say that Alberto Contador has to pay attention in the first stage of the Tour de France 2010, from Rotterdam to Brussels, since with this stage passing alongside the sea in Zealand a same situation could occur quite easily. The sports newspaper L'Equipe should discuss the Spaniard's weaknesses in an article tomorrow.

Like in 2005 (than at 10 seconds behind Bobby Julich), Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) finishes once again Paris-Nice at the second place of the general classification, this time at 11 seconds. His team mate Luis Léon Sanchez finishes 3rd at 25 seconds, 1 second ahead of the best young rider of Paris-Nice 2010, Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo).

The top 10 of the general classification is as follows after the last stage:
1/ Alberto Contador (Astana) - 28h35'35"
2/ Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) - +00'11"
3/ Luis Léon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) - +00'25"
4/ Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) - +00'26"
5/ Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - +00'30"
6/ Jens Voigt (Team Saxo Bank) - +00'35"
7/ Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha) - +00'37"
8/ Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) - +01'07"
9/ Jean-Christophe Péraud (Omega Pharma Lotto) - +01'16"
10/ Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) - +01'17"

Classification by points

The youngest rider of this edition of Paris-Nice, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo), seen as the revelation of Paris-Nice 2010, wins the green jersey of the classification by points, with 7 points more than Alejandro Valverde.

Here's the top 5 of this classification:
1/ Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) - 112 points
2/ Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) - 105 points
3/ Jens Voigt (Team Saxo Bank) - 104 points
4/ Alberto Contador (Astana) - 89 points
5/ Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha) - 82 points

King of the Mountain classification

The polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountain classification was well deserved by Amaël Moinard. Not only the rider of the Cofidis team shows he deserves this jersey by attacking in the first climb of today's stage and by winning the stage, the 46 points gap with the number 2 (Thomas Voeckler, in the leading group with Moinard and also 2nd in today's stage) also shows he was clearly the best climber in this Race to the sun.

Here's the top 5 of the King of the Mountains classification:
1/ Amaël Moinard (Cofidis) - 75 points
2/ Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - 29 points
3/ Alberto Contador (Astana) - 24 points
4/ Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) - 18 points
5/ Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini) - 17 points

Best young rider classification

Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) remains the best young rider at the end of Paris-Nice 2010, while his team mate Peter Sagan, who lost 2'48" in the last stage, falls down to the 4th place. The Estonian champion, Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) thus takes the second place in this classification:
1/ Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) - 28h 36' 01"
2/ Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) - +00'41"
3/ Jérôme Coppel (Saur-Sojasun) - +00'51"
4/ Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) - +02'55"
5/ Cyril Gautier (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) - +03'01"

Team classification

The team classification ranks the 22 teams which participated in Paris-Nice 2010 by the result of the addition of the three best individual times of each team. With the Irish champion, Nicolas Roche, 11th at 1'23", Christophe Riblon 21st at 3'39" and the young Maxime BouetAG2R La Mondiale team wins this classification:
1/ AG2R La Mondiale - 85h53'50"
2/ Cofidis - +00'14"
3/ Team Radioshack - +01'01"
4/ Caisse d'Epargne - +02'16"
5/ Liquigas-Doimo - +03'01"

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Paris-Nice | Paris-Nice 2010

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