Second Sagan surprise in Paris-Nice

Astana's Alberto Contador retained the leader's yellow jersey after Sagan attacked with Christophe LeMevel (Francaise des Jeux) two kilometres from the line to edge out Italian Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre - Farnese Vini) by two seconds.

Contador said: "It was like a stage of the Tour de France - it was tough to control as there were a number of riders just a few seconds apart.

"I have a good feeling but you have to have a very very good team to control things. It's a race easier to win by counter attacking than being on the defensive.

"Tomorrow will be very difficult - but I can also play my card in Sunday's stage," said the Spaniard.

Sagan, a former world mountain bike junior champion who also won the third stage to Aurillac, said he is helping to put Slovakian cycling on the map.

"After my first stage win three television crews went to my house to interview my parents," laughed the 20 year old..

In the new overall classification, reigning Tour de France champion Contador is 20 seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), who picked up 4sec on the leader with bonus points after he placed third on the day.

"It was full speed from the first kilometre and it is a bit complicated to deal with. We had to be careful of possible counter attacks," said Astana manager Yvon Sanquer.

"It will be very difficult this weekend as well because the terrain will be perfect for attacks. We will have to be careful and avoid potential traps."

Saturday's sixth stage is the longest of the event, a 220km stretch from Peynier to Tourrettes-sur-Loup.

Stage 5: 157km, Pernes-les-Fontaines - Aix-en-Provence.

1 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas - Doimo 3:34:15, 2 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre - Farnese Vini 0:00:02, 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, 4 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Française des Jeux, 5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Saxo Bank, 6 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky, 7 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Euskatltel - Euskadi, 8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale, 9 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC - Columbia, 10 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana.

General classification:

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 20:41:40, 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:20, 3 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas - Doimo 0:00:25, 4 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:26, 5 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskatltel - Euskadi 0:00:29, 6 Jens Voigt (Ger) Saxo Bank 0:00:34, 7 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha 0:00:36, 8 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas - Doimo 0:00:42, 9 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions 0:01:02, 10 Reine Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 0:01:06.