First Endurance Sponsored rider Alberto Contador (Team Astana) impressed the cycling world by winning the opening time trial in the French stage race Paris-Nice (March 8th-15th). Contador was seven seconds faster than Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins (Garmin). Luis León Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) finished third, ten seconds behind. It was a short opening time trial (9.3 K) in and around Amilly on a completely flat course with few corners. For Alberto Contador, it is already his third victory in the young season. Earlier he won the time trial and the overall general classification in the Tour of Algarve.
Alberto was happy, but surprised as well: “Honestly, I am very surprised,” said the stage winner. “I am a good time trialist, but this was a short distance, a flat course, not really my thing, and then against all those time trial specialists. Moreover, with the rain, I did not take extreme risks in the corners. Of course, everybody had the same bad weather conditions. I am becoming more and more a complete rider. No, I did not change anything on my position on the bike. It is exactly the same as in 2008.”
Contador won the 2007 edition of Paris-Nice with an amazing all-or-nothing solo ride on the final stage. The 2009 route has a lot of climbing, including a summit finish atop the Montagne de Lure in stage 6 that should be perfect for Alberto. ”For tomorrow’s stage we will have to be attentive to defend the jersey,” continued Contador. “Although this yellow jersey is nice, it is more important for us to have that jersey next Sunday in Nice. I am very motivated, because this race was my push toward the Tour. I am excited because I like to race the bike, because this is an important race and I like it a lot. And, of course, I am looking forward to returning to race in France after having passed one year out of this country.”
Results
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 11.05 (50.346 km/h) 2 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0.07 3 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.09
