BOURG-SAINT-ANDEOL, France, June 8, 2010 – Alberto Contador retained the lead of the Dauphine Criterium on Tuesday as Argentinian Juan Jose Haedo pulled off a superb sprint maneuver to win the race’s second stage.

Two-time Tour de France winner Contador has been using the Dauphine as a key warm-up for the defense of his yellow jersey with the Astana team in July.

But for the second day in a row the Spanish all-rounder has belied his own claims that he doesn’t want to hold the race lead, and will go into Wednesday’s 49km time trial with a 02sec lead on American Tejay Van Garderen.

Contador admitted he had kept the yellow jersey purely out of “race circumstances”, and with some fellow favourites only a handful of seconds behind him he is ready to give up the lead on Wednesday.

“Another day, another day in the lead, but it’s really because of race circumstances,” said Contador, who admitted he’d been given a good work-out.

“It was a very fast stage but there was also a bit of tension in the peloton because we were never quite sure of which way the wind was blowing.”

Haedo, of the Saxo Bank team, is known for his ability to dominate in difficult sprint conditions despite not benefiting from the type of sprint lead-out ‘train’ used by British sprint king Mark Cavendish at HTC-Columbia.

In the absence of Cavendish and his German teammate Andre Greipel, considered the fastest sprinters in the world, the Argentine fast man seized the day after a stage of chasing down a five-man breakaway over tough, rolling terrain and in difficult wind conditions.

The front runners’ lead stood at eight minutes at one point, but once they had crested the final climb 53km from the finish, the chasing peloton moved up a gear and finally reeled the quintet in with just 1km to race.

Haedo then finished off the “good work” of his team with some great bike handling skills which allowed him to counter a late drive for the line by Welshman Geraint Thomas of Team Sky.

“I wouldn’t call myself a specialist in these kind of conditions, but when you don’t have a special sprint train to lead you out you have to learn to fend for yourself,” said Haedo.

“You have to be flexible, but you also need a fair bit of luck and today I found that little gap to go through and so I had some of that.

“But the team worked hard to keep me protected for the second day in a row, and so I have to say a big thank you to them.”

Having claimed the bulk of his wins in lesser known races, Haedo admitted it counted among the biggest wins of his career.

“The Dauphine Criterium is definitely a big race, and normally people are watching to see who is going to be doing well in the Tour. It’s definitely one of the highlights of the year.

“I think it is one of my biggest wins.”

Wednesday’s third stage is a 49km time trial, on which Contador, who won the opening prologue, will hope to test a new and more compact time trial bike further ahead of the Tour de France.

“Tomorrow (Wednesday) I’ll obviously be on my own, but it will still be a difficult day because I haven’t had much opportunity to test the bike in race conditions,” added the Spaniard.

“I could quite easily lose the yellow jersey and anyway with the mountains up ahead the race is only starting.”

Stage Results
1. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG/SAX) les 177,0 km en 4h24:10.
(moyenne: 40,202 km/h)
2. Martin Reimer (GER/CTT) à 0:00.
3. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 0:00.
4. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
5. Roger Kluge (GER/MRM) 0:00.
6. Andreas Stauff (GER/QST) 0:00.
7. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
8. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 0:00.
9. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 0:00.
10. Michel Kreder (NED/GRM) 0:00.
11. Nikolay Trusov (RUS/KAT) 0:00.
12. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
13. Davide Appollonio (ITA/CTT) 0:00.
14. Manuele Mori (ITA/LAM) 0:00.
15. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 0:00.
16. Jürgen Roelandts (BEL/OLO) 0:00.
17. Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ/AST) 0:00.
18. Manuel Cardoso (POR/FOT) 0:00.
19. Aleksejs Saramotins (LAT/THR) 0:00.
20. Stijn Vandenbergh (BEL/KAT) 0:00.
…
34. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
39. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 0:00.
40. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
41. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
42. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 0:00.
46. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
58. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 0:00.
63. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
65. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 0:00.
66. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 0:00.
69. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
72. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 0:00.
73. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
74. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
76. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
77. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
84. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 0:00.
88. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
91. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
92. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 0:00.
93. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
97. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 0:00.
98. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
100. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 0:00.
101. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
104. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
106. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 0:00.
107. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 0:00.
108. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
114. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
117. Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA/OLO) 0:00.
118. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
121. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
123. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
126. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 0:00.
128. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 0:00.
129. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
130. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:00.
133. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 0:00.
142. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 0:00.
146. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 0:00.
148. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 0:22.
149. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 0:24.
150. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 0:30.
151. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 0:30.
156. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 1:31.
157. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 1:31.
158. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 1:58.
170. Joaquin Novoa (ESP/CTT) 12:11.
171 coureurs au départ. 170 classés.
Non partant: Haimar Zubeldia (ESP/RSH), Paul Martens (GER/RAB), Dennis Van Winden (NED/RAB), Mauro Finetto (ITA/LIQ)
Abandon: Marco Marzano (ITA/LAM)

Overall Results:

1. Alberto Contador (ESP/AST) 9h20:08.
2. Tejay Van Garderen (USA/THR) à 0:02.
3. Janez Brajkovic (SLO/RSH) 0:05.
4. Geraint Thomas (GBR/SKY) 0:10.
5. Dario Cataldo (ITA/QST) 0:12.
6. Rémi Pauriol (FRA/COF) 0:12.
7. Jérôme Coppel (FRA/SAU) 0:14.
8. Christophe Riblon (FRA/ALM) 0:14.
9. Gorka Verdugo (ESP/EUS) 0:15.
10. David Millar (GBR/GRM) 0:15.
11. Grega Bole (SLO/LAM) 0:15.
12. Christian Knees (GER/MRM) 0:16.
13. Rubén Plaza (ESP/GCE) 0:17.
14. Kristjan Koren (SLO/LIQ) 0:17.
15. Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA/OLO) 0:17.
16. Chris Horner (USA/RSH) 0:18.
17. Christophe Moreau (FRA/GCE) 0:18.
18. Nicolas Vogondy (FRA/BTL) 0:19.
19. Vladimir Gusev (RUS/KAT) 0:19.
20. Peter Velits (SVK/THR) 0:20.
…
22. Christophe Le Mével (FRA/FDJ) 0:23.
25. David Le Lay (FRA/ALM) 0:25.
28. Pierre Rolland (FRA/BTL) 0:28.
35. Blel Kadri (FRA/ALM) 0:32.
36. Laurent Lefèvre (FRA/BTL) 0:32.
41. Samuel Sanchez (ESP/EUS) 0:35.
42. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 0:35.
44. Steve Chainel (FRA/BTL) 0:37.
45. Cyril Gautier (FRA/BTL) 0:38.
46. Rémy Di Grégorio (FRA/FDJ) 0:38.
48. Samuel Dumoulin (FRA/COF) 0:39.
51. Maxime Bouet (FRA/ALM) 0:47.
52. Christophe Kern (FRA/COF) 0:47.
53. Julien El Fares (FRA/COF) 0:49.
54. Yannick Talabardon (FRA/SAU) 0:49.
69. Dimitri Champion (FRA/ALM) 1:41.
74. Romain Sicard (FRA/EUS) 1:47.
75. Matthieu Ladagnous (FRA/FDJ) 1:47.
78. Cyril Dessel (FRA/ALM) 1:50.
79. Sylvain Calzati (FRA/SKY) 1:51.
83. Anthony Delaplace (FRA/SAU) 1:55.
88. Laszlo Bodrogi (FRA/KAT) 1:56.
89. Denis Menchov (RUS/RAB) 1:57.
91. Jérémie Galland (FRA/SAU) 1:58.
93. Matthieu Perget (FRA/GCE) 2:03.
96. Sébastien Chavanel (FRA/FDJ) 2:05.
102. Julien Loubet (FRA/ALM) 2:18.
108. Amaël Moinard (FRA/COF) 2:32.
110. Stéphane Augé (FRA/COF) 2:37.
114. Sébastien Minard (FRA/COF) 3:05.
115. Mickaël Delage (FRA/OLO) 3:13.
116. Pierrick Fédrigo (FRA/BTL) 3:24.
120. Juan Jose Haedo (ARG/SAX) 3:53.
123. Laurent Mangel (FRA/SAU) 4:47.
127. Jean-Marc Marino (FRA/SAU) 5:06.
129. Giovanni Bernaudeau (FRA/BTL) 5:07.
132. Nicolas Portal (FRA/SKY) 5:27.
140. Julien Simon (FRA/SAU) 6:17.
143. Guillaume Levarlet (FRA/SAU) 6:27.
144. Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR/SKY) 6:30.
145. Anthony Geslin (FRA/FDJ) 6:30.
148. Pierre Cazaux (FRA/FDJ) 6:43.
149. Guillaume Bonnafond (FRA/ALM) 6:52.
154. Benoît Vaugrenard (FRA/FDJ) 7:41.
157. Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA/RSH) 7:51.
165. Vincent Jérôme (FRA/BTL) 12:26.
170. Joaquin Novoa (ESP/CTT) 25:32.

Story by: AFP
Photo by: CorVos Pro