Colombia's Sergio Henao lifted his troubled Sky team's spirits with a dramatic two-second success over Alberto Contador in the Paris-Nice Sunday. Henao set up the win when grabbing a half-minute lead in the 'Race to the Sun' with fourth in Saturday's penultimate stage. But the 29-year-old only scraped home in the face of a determined challenge from Contador.
The Spaniard, placed third at 31sec at the start of the day, took second in the closing eighth stage behind his fellow countryman David de la Cruz.
Stage success for De la Cruz (Quick Step) denied Contador 10 precious bonus seconds which would have seen him and not Henao take overall victory.
For Contador it was a cruel near miss coming after he had been edged out by just four seconds by Geraint Thomas 12 months ago.
Ireland's Dan Martin completed the final podium, half a minute behind Henao who became the second Colombian to win the race after Carlos Betancur in 2014.
Team Sky has won five of the past six editions courtesy of Bradley Wiggins (2012), Richie Porte (2013, 2015), Thomas (2016) and Henao.
The British team has been hit by doping and sexism rows in recent weeks, their reputation taking a battering as a result. Henao had said he hoped to see out the win for beleaguered team chief Dave Brailsford.
Sagan at the double, Quintana ahead
World champion Peter Sagan underlined his form a week before the Milan-San Remo classic by winning the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico Sunday, his second of the Italian stage race this week. Colombia's Nairo Quintana, of the Movistar team, retained the race leader's blue jersey following his summit-finish win on Saturday's fourth stage which forced ailing Italian rival Fabio Aru (Astana) to pull out with bronchitis on Sunday morning.
Bora team rider Sagan, a powerful one-day rider who can sprint with the best in the bunch, had dominated the field to win Friday's third stage.
And the flamboyant Slovakian, known for his garish outfits and performing one-handed 'wheelies' when riding up the climbs of some of Europe's top races, took his second win of the 2017 edition of the race with a defiant, uphill sprint in Fermo.
Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) finished in second place with Slovenian Promoz Roglic (Lotto-NL) claiming third from a drastically reduced bunch after 201 km of racing from Rieti.
Milan-San Remo, known affectionately as 'La Primavera' (The Spring), is the opening one-day classic of the season and is held on March 18 and Sagan will line up looking for his maiden win. Quintana, meanwhile, looks set to claim overall victory if he can survive until Tuesday's seventh and final stage.
The diminutive Colombian climbing specialist holds a 50sec lead on Pinot.
The sixth stage Monday is expected to finish in a bunch sprint that could see Sagan bag his hat trick, while Tuesday's final stage is an individual time trial. — Agencies
