Mar 12th, 10. Alberto Contador repeated his 2007 victory in Mende when he out-climbed his rivals to take the win and the overall lead on the final climb in today's Stage 4 of  Paris-Nice.

Contador wearing his favourite colour ©Team Astana

It was another extremely cold day, with the riders starting the stage with snow around their feet and finishing 4h27m later, 173.5km closer to Nice, in minus two degrees.

26 year old Contador, who is one of only five riders to have won all three Grand Tours, positioned himself at the front of the peloton at the base of the 3.1km maximum gradient 10.1% climb.  He had taken his leg warmers off and was ready for action.

With 1.5km to go the peloton exploded, but all the favourites were up the front.  When Contador then made his move he quickly created a gap on his companions, including big Jens Voigt in the yellow jersey. 

Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde was the first rival able to respond and, while he couldn't pull back his fellow Spaniard, he did keep the gap from extending too far.  

Over the finish line Contador had plenty of time to sit up and fire his pistol, as he did so many times in 2009.  Valverde followed him home and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) rounded out the all Spanish podium. Voigt crossed 44sec later.

The 10 second gap, and 10 second bonus put Contador in the yellow jersey.

Pistol time at Paris-Nice ©Team Astana

His Astana team played a big role in pulling back the day's seven rider breakaway, which bodes well for the team's big battle in July when the Tour de France also finishes atop this same climb.

In the General Classification Contador now has a 24sec gap over Valverde, 25sec on Romain Kreuziger (Liquigas), who is the new Young Rider leader,  and 28sec on Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne).  Voigt dropped to 6th overall, 34 seconds behind.

"I struggled in the first half of this Paris-Nice with my crash but a new race begins today. Yet there are still three hard days ahead of us," explained the new leader.

Contador said he felt good during the ascent, but not super.  He had to use a lot of energy during the race to ensure he kept in a good position and he felt he paid the price in the final kilometre.

After this result Contador does not consider the overall "Race to the Sun" has been decided. On the contrary, "There is a lot of racing left, this has just begun," he said.  

While he's happy with the performance of his team today, Contador is mindful of how hard Paris-Nice can be to control.

"Yes, my team is strong and is all with me," he said. "It is very hard and very crazy. I do not know how we will respond, but we will try."

"Paris-Nice may be lost at each stage yet, because there are many riders very near. It is not yet won," said Contador who lost his lead last year after suffering badly on the second to last stage.  He finished the tour off the podium.

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