Alberto Contador outclassed his rivals in the uphill finish on Friday to take the sixth stage and overall lead of the Paris-Nice.
The Spaniard completed the 182.5km trek in 4 hours, 47 minutes, 46 seconds.
“It was a very hard climb,” Contador said. “But the team is good and stuck to the plan. We controlled the race well. I suffered in the last 4km and gave it my all because I knew there were two dangerous riders behind me. But eventually I managed to make the difference.”
After Jens Voigt of Germany pulled away at the bottom of Montagne de Lure, the toughest peak of the race, Contador noticed a small gap with overnight leader Sylvain Chavanel of France and made his move 8.5km from the finish to drop his rivals.
Only Frank Schleck of Luxembourg could keep up with Contador, who caught Voigt before finishing the last 6km on his own.
Schleck came in second, 58 seconds behind Contador, Luis-Leon Sanchez of Spain placed third and Cadel Evans of Australia was fourth.
Sanchez climbed to second place in the overall standings, 1 minute, 13 seconds behind Contador, while Chavanel dropped to third place, 1 minute, 24 seconds back.
“The last two days are going to be very hard and we must be on our guard because I’m tired like everybody else,” Contador said. “For now, I’m only happy to have taken the yellow jersey back.”
Contador won the time trial in the opening stage to grab the yellow jersey, before losing it to Chavanel on the third day of the race.
Five riders — Javier Aramendia, Romain Feillu, Niki Terpstra, Cyril Lemoine and Mickael Delage — escaped the pack shortly after the start and were later joined by Christophe Riblon, Jeremy Roy, Sebastien Turgot and Alan Perez.
The small group built a lead of 5 minutes, 45 seconds at the 45km mark. But the chasing pack reeled in Roy, who won Thursday’s stage, after 108km and gradually caught the escape group in the Cote des Mourres.
French rider Thomas Voeckler crashed after 15km, fracturing his clavicle, and had to withdraw.
Contador, who won the Tour of Algarve last month in Portugal, is considered the best climber in the world.
The seventh stage takes the pack on a 191km trek with 10 climbs from Manosque to Fayence.
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