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Tondo wins stage; Contador hangs onto Paris-Nice lead
Spaniard Xavier Tondo, riding for Cervelo, won the fifth stage of Paris-Nice while compatriot Alberto Contador of Astana held onto the overall lead going into the final day.
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Contador has a 14sec lead over Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), after Tondo led the way into Tourrettes-sur-Loup after the longest stage of the event, a 220km ride from Peynier.
Tondo made a solo break with 39km to go to see off a peleton led by Valverde with a 5sec margin at the line.
But Valverde gained enough bonus points to shave an additional 6sec off his overnight deficit on Contador.
Slovak Peter Sagan, already a double stage winner, continued his good form at Paris-Nice, finishing third. The Liquigas rider holds on to the points jersey.
It was the biggest victory of Tondo's fledgling career after having ridden for smaller teams on the continental circuit.
"It's incredible for me, in my first year with Cervelo. It's my 10th victory as a pro, but in the past I only rode for small teams
"I set off looking to finish in the top ten overall in the Paris-Nice, but I made a bad mistake yesterday so decided to go for stage wins," said Tondo.
"To win I need to go it alone - I have no chance in a sprint," said the Spaniard, who will race in support of team leader Carlos Sastre in the mountain stages of the Giro.
The ii9km sixth and final stage will take place in Nice.
Stage 6: 220km, Peynier - Tourrettes-sur-Loup.
1 Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervélo Test Team 5:01:39, 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:05, 3 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas - Doimo, 4 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi, 5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha, 6 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne, 7 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, 8 Christophe Riblon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, 9 Reine Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne, 10 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - Farnese Vini.
General classification:
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 25:43:24, 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:14, 3 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas - Doimo 0:00:25, 4 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0:00:26, 5 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:00:29, 6 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0:00:34, 7 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:36, 8 Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas - Doimo 0:00:38, 9 David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions 0:01:02, 10 Reine Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 0:01:06.
