contador: "i was empty" Paris-Nice Stage 7: Manosque to Fayence, 191km/119mi By Cathy Mehl
The highs from winning in cycling are pretty high, but the lows are certainly overwhelming and unfortunately they come close together all-too-often in cycling. After Friday’s stunning display of climbing prowess by Team Astana’s Alberto Contador, Saturday was a different story indeed as the race leader responded to attack after attack until he could respond no more and was left to ride in at his own pace to the finish, the race lead moving to his friend Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne). Sanchez put in a committed attack after all the top contenders had softened up Contador, and the Spanish Time Trial champion rode steadily to the finish and into the yellow jersey. Former race leader Sylvain Chavanel (Quick-Step) moved into second-place and Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) slipped into the final spot on the podium. Contador sits in fourth place with one stage of racing to go. After the race Contador offered no excuses but rather clear reflection on racing: "It was so hard. Until 65km from finish there was no real breakaway but complete chaos and always attacks. It made me tired. Due to the speed I neglected my nutrition. At 40km from the end I was alone. I still could react on the attacks but at 15km it was over. I had no forces left any more. My only aim was to arrive at the finish.” He continued, “Everybody raced against me but that is normal. I spoke with Luisle (Sanchez) in the final. We said we had to each do our part of the work in the breakaway. Then he told me he wanted to win the stage. Now he has the jersey as well. I am not happy about it but I congratulate my friend.”
Alberto was on the defensive...all day long
Nine riders finally stayed off the front at 65kms to go with Martin Velits (Team Milram) able to ride away from the break on a solo effort 25kms later. But the general classification was about to get a huge shake-up with Toni Colom (Katusha) the first to attack the yellow jersey at 32km to go. Contador reacted, straight on his wheel with Schleck and Sanchez able to latch on as well. Once the front group was back together Colom tried again, this time with only Contador and Sanchez on the wheel. The speed of the trio easily caught Velits as they descended on the narrow and winding roads into Fayence. Schleck was joined by teammate Jens Voigt with Chavanel able to join them on the dicey descent, with the six riders eventually riding together in the final selection. At 17km to go Sanchez stomped on the pedals and away he went, initially with little reaction from anyone and Contador left to lead the chase. But once the other contenders saw that Contador’s tank was empty and he was unable to respond, they mounted a charge of their own with 5kms to go and left the race leader in no-man’s land. Meanwhile Sanchez was time-trialing his way to the finish, gaining precious seconds all the time. Down 1:13 at the start of the stage, at 1km to go he had 1:28 and the virtual yellow jersey. DS Alain Gallopin added: "The team showed a bit of weakness in controlling the race. We've always said this is a difficult race to control and in the end Alberto had everyone against him which is normal--that's racing and he was wearing the leader's jersey. Everybody was against him and did everything they could to defeat him. That's cycling." Gallopin continued, " He just isn't Superman. The organizers wanted a spectacle and they got that. They made a very hard course. Contador could not react each time to the attacks of Colom and Voigt and then in his head it was over. Contador showed he has his qualities but also his weaknesses. He is young. There will another Paris-Nice in his future. I think for tomorrow it will be impossible to change the current situation, but we will certainly show an effort. "
Top Ten Results on Stage 7 1 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4.43.34 (40.414 km/h) 2 Antonio Colom (Spa) Team Katusha 0.50 3 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 4 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0.56 6 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis 1.31 7 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 8 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence-Lotto 9 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 10 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis
Team Astana on Stage 7 33 Alberto Contador (Spa) 2.53 38 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) 7.20 70 Daniel Navarro (Spa) 11.13 72 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) 98 Michael Schär (Swi) 21.33 103 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) 104 Benjamin Noval (Spa) 106 Sergio Paulinho (Por)
General Classification after Stage 7 1 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 28.05.45 2 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 1.09 3 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 1.21 4 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 1.50 5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 1.59 6 Antonio Colom (Spa) Team Katusha 2.16 7 Kevin Seeldrayers (Bel) Quick Step 2.29 8 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Skil-Shimano 2.57 9 Yury Trofimov (Rus) BBox Bouygues Telecom 3.37 10 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française Des Jeux 4.00
Team Astana on GC 29 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) 14.12 65 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) 31.18 75 Daniel Navarro (Spa) 38.31 102 Benjamin Noval (Spa) 55.24 105 Michael Schär (Swi) 56.01 113 Sergio Paulinho (Por) 57.42 120 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) 1.22.46
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