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by Jean Montois

NICE, France, March 15, 2009 (AFP) – Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez trumped compatriot Alberto Contador to win the 67th Paris-Nice cycling race after the eighth and final stage here on Sunday.

Sanchez, riding for the Caisse d’Epargne team, finished the race one minute ahead of Luxembourg’s Frank Schleck in the overall standings, with French rider Sylvain Chavanal a further 9sec adrift in third.

The final 119km stage of the race was won by Katusha’s Spanish rider Antonio Colom, with Contador in second at the same time, 1sec ahead of Schleck.

Astana rider Contador, the 2007 Tour de France winner, had seemed to have taken pole position after stage six of this race.

But last year’s Tour of Italy and Tour of Spain winner lost almost three minutes during Saturday’s seventh stage after his failure to eat and drink properly left him feeling powerless.

In a bid to recoup the valuable time he’d lost, Contador attacked at 41km and held the lead until the drop from the col d’Eze, less than 10km from the finish line in central Nice.

The Spaniard shook off dangerous duo Sandy Casar and David Lopez in the ascent of the col but was hauled back in by good coordination from teams Caisse d’Epargne (Sanchez) and Saxo Bank (Schleck).

It was Colom and Schleck who emerged on Contador’s shoulder in the descent, and the former showed his sprinting prowess to take the stage win down Nice’s famed seaside boulevard, the Promenade des Anglais.

“I was expecting Contador’s attack in this stage,” said Sanchez.

“As I had done the night before, he forewarned me. We are great friends in real life but in a race like this, it’s each man for himself.

“For me, it’s even better to struggle for victory in a race as big as this with a rider such as him.

“Even when the lead was cut to under two minutes, I wasn’t worried because I had my team around me and I knew that Frank Schleck’s team were also beginning to get going.”

Schleck leapfrogged Chavanel in the overall standings after he finished a vital 16sec ahead of the Frenchman who had suffered a mechanical problem coming down the col d’Eze.

The victory for Sanchez was the 25-year-old’s most significant career milestone following a stage win at Aurillac in the last Tour de France, and previous placings of third and fifth on the Paris-Nice in 2007 and 2008 respectively. He also triumphed in the 2005 Tour Down Under.

“I’ve been making progress since the start of my career and up until now I’ve been learning my profession,” Sanchez said.

“With this victory I’ve crossed a threshold. In the future I’m thinking more of competing in big stage-based races.

“In two or three years’ time I hope to be in the fight to win the Tour.”