Sagan speeds to Paris-Nice third stage

Therace start, initially set to take place in Saint-Junien, was moved toSaint-Yrieix-la-Perche after heavy snowfall in the region overnight.

Sagan,20, moved up to second place in the overall standings but Germany'sJens Voigt (Saxo Bank) assumed the leader's yellow jersey afterfinishing fourth in the 153-kilometre ride, which had been cut by 50kmdue to snow.

"I hesitated at the end between wanting to pull clear of the peloton and really trying to win the stage," said Voigt.

"Itwas a difficult decision to make. In the end I found myself poorlyplaced with 500 metres to go and I came fourth. But it's enough to takethe yellow jersey and I'm very happy with that."

Sagan was oneof the revelations of Sunday's prologue, where he finished fifth, andbeat Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez and Ireland's Nicolas Roche to the linein a sprint finish here.

The shortened stage saw a trio ofriders break away at the 33km mark, Yann Huguet (Skil-Shimano) JurgenRoelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Nikolas Maes (Quickstep) built aseven-minute gap on the peloton before being brought 6 kilometres fromthe finish.

Sagan, Contador and Viogt were then in a small groupof six that broke away less than 3km from the finish with the Slovakianthe fastest at the line.

"I am very happy to get my firstvictory in the ProTour. After the Tour Down Under, I thought I wouldnot be in great shape but obviously it went well", said Sagan, who isnow second overall.

"There are still four tough stages remaining so let's not get carried away."

Contadoris now in seventh place in the overall standings, 20 seconds behindVoigt, while overnight leader Lars Boom of the Netherlands slipped tosixth place after being left behind on the final climb.

"I am happy with this stage," said Contador, who bruised his leg in a crash on Monday.

"Thegoal was not to test myself today but an attack was launched in thelast ascent and the bunch could not follow the pace so I took mychance."

Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez, meanwhile, was unable tokeep pace with Contador when he accelerated in response to an attackfrom Roche but remains third overall.

Thursday's fourth stage, a 173.5km ride from Maurs to Mende, concludes with the only hill finish of the race.

Stage 3: 208km, Saint-Junien - Aurillac.

1Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas - Doimo 3:44:28, 2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa)Team Katusha, 3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale, 4 Jens Voigt(Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:02, 5 Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia,6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana, 7 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre -Farnese Vini 0:00:06, 8 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit enLigne, 9 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Cervélo Test Team, 10 Marco Marcato(Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team.

General classification:

1Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 12:40:26, 2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas- Doimo 0:00:06, 3 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:09, 4David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions 0:00:12, 5 Roman Kreuziger(Cze) Liquigas - Doimo 0:00:14, 6 Lars Boom (Ned) Rabobank 0:00:20, 7Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana, 8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team RadioShack0:00:24, 9 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:28, 10 XavierTondo (Spa) Cervélo Test Team.