Contador wins first state of Paris-Nice cycling race
Published 4:41 pm Sunday, March 8, 2009
AMILLY, France — Alberto Contador won the first stage of the Paris-Nice race Sunday in a pouring rain.
The in-form Spaniard, who won the Tour of Algarve in Portugal last month, completed the 5.8-mile time trial around Amilly in 11 minutes, 6 seconds.
“I really started fast and it was very hard in the last bit,” Contador said on the event’s Web site, “but I felt well and my team director told me I was in the lead, so I gave it my all.”
Contador, one of five men to win the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Spanish Vuelta, did not compete in the weeklong event last year after his Astana team was barred because of doping violations.
Teammate Lance Armstrong skipped this year’s race after finishing seventh in the Tour of California last month but will ride in Italy’s Milan-San Remo race on March 21.
Contador and Armstrong are set to compete together in Spain’s Tour of Castille-Leon from March 23-27.
“Paris-Nice is a race that motivates me and I want to win it,” said Contador, who won the event in 2007. “But it will be hard to go for the overall standings because we have lots of hard stages ahead of us.”
Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins of Britain finished second, seven seconds behind Contador. Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain took third, nine seconds back.
Among the favorites, Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia placed 19th, 31 seconds behind Contador.
Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, who finished second in last year’s Paris-Nice, was 26th, three seconds behind Evans.
The Paris-Nice race finishes March 15, with Monday’s second stage taking cyclists on a 121.5-mile route from Saint-Brisson-sur-Loire to La-Chapelle-Saint-Ursin.
