Slovakian prodigy Peter Sagan snatched his second victory in the highly competitive Paris-Nice race with a late burst of speed to prevail in the fifth stage on Friday.
The 20-year-old Liquigas rider, in his first season in cycling’s elite, attacked the peloton with France’s Christophe Le Mevel less than 2km from the finish and held on to beat Italian Mirco Lorenzetto by two seconds.
Sagan perfectly held off the favorites’ chase in the final stretch, a short 400m ascent.
PHOTO: AFP
Spain’s Alejandro Valverde took third place to bag a four-second time bonus and narrow the gap on overall leader Alberto Contador to 20 seconds.
The twice Tour de France champion finished safe in the favorites’ group, although his Astana team had a rough day in southern France.
They never controlled the stage, but Contador stayed vigilant and went over to Sagan to congratulate him after the finish.
It had briefly looked like an upset was on the cards when Reine Taaramae took advantage of a counterattack after Leonardo Duque broke away on his own and the Estonian champion slipped into a group of four that built an 80-second lead.
Taaramae prompted the bunch to react, with Astana leaving the Caisse d’Epargne and Lampre squads to lead the chase.
It was game over for the fugitives 22km from the line, but the bunch split in two when the AG2R La Mondiale team tried to catch the big guns off guard with a sudden acceleration shortly afterwards. The decisive burst, however, came from Sagan.
■TIRRENO-ADRIATICO
AP, MONSUMMANO TERME, ITALY
Daniele Bennati won the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race to overtake Linus Gerdemann for the overall lead.
The Italian, who rides for Liquigas, broke from the pack in a sprint finish to cross the line first on Friday. Compatriot Alessandro Petacchi was second and Austria’s Bernhard Eisel finished third.
Bennati finished the 159km stage from San Miniato in 3 hours, 54 minutes and 9 seconds, with Petacchi and Eisel coming home with the same time. Bennati’s cumulative time is 11 hours, 44 minutes and 23 seconds.
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