In short
| Stage winner | Alberto CONTADOR |
 (yellow jersey) |
Davide REBELLIN |
 (green jersey) |
Daniele BENNATI |
 (red polka dot jersey) |
Heinrich HAUSSLER |
 (white jersey) |
Alberto CONTADOR |
Starters' list | Time schedules
All classifications
| Stage |
|---|
 |
• Individual time• Individual points • Best young • Best climber • Best team |
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| Overall |
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• Individual time• Individual points • Best young • Best climber • Best team |
Stage by stage
| P | Sunday 11 March | 4.7 km |
| Issy-les-Moulineaux > Issy-les-Moulineaux | ||
| 1 | Monday 12 March | 186 km |
| Cloyes-sur-le-Loir > Buzançais | ||
| 2 | Tuesday 13 March | 177 km |
| Vatan > Limoges | ||
| 3 | Wednesday 14 March | 215.5 km |
| Limoges > Maurs la Jolie | ||
| 4 | Thursday 15 March | 169.5 km |
| Maurs la Jolie > Mende | ||
| 5 | Friday 16 March | 178 km |
| Sorgues > Manosque | ||
| 6 | Saturday 17 March | 200 km |
| Brignoles > Cannes | ||
| 7 | Sunday 18 March | 129.5 km |
| Nice > Nice | ||
| Total Length | 1260.2 km | |
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The race
Thursday 15 March 2007| stage 4 | Maurs la Jolie > Mende - 169.5 km |
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Contador comes of age in Mende
Alberto Contador showed he had come of age at 24 when he won the toughest stage in this year’s Paris-Nice at the top of the Montee Laurent Jalabert in Mende. Italy’s Davide Rebellin, who was second behind the Spaniard at the end of the 169.5-kms 4th stage, took the race leader’s yellow jersey, but Contador, Discovery Channel’s new recruit, was the most impressive rider on the day, surging in the final kilometre for one of his best victories so far. Contador has for long been considered as a great hope. He has now matured and the final weekend of this Paris-Nice looks especially exciting with only six seconds between the two leaders.
The film of the stage
Paris-Nice Stage 4
Maurs – Mende (169.5 kms)
157 riders at the start
Sprints of the day:
Km 70 - Espalion
Km 108 - St Saturnin de Lenne
Climbs of the day
Km 9.5 - Cote de Quotidiane (2nd cat)
Km 30 - Cote de Montsalvy (2nd cat)
Km 76 - Cote de Biounac (2nd cat)
Km 162 - Cote de Chabrits (2nd cat)
Km 169.5 - Montee Laurent Jalabert (1st cat)
The start was given at 11:47 to 157 riders. Belgium’s Thierry Marichal (FDJ) did not start. The race was nervous from the flag and a first attempt by 17 riders was quickly quashed. The first hill of the day, the Cote de Quotidiane (2nd category) split the bunch in two parts. Vergudo (Euskaltel) was first at the top, ahead of Loosli (Lampre) and Le Boulanger (Bouygues Telecom). In the descent, Sandy Casar (FDJ) surged and rapidly took a 10-second lead. He was joined by Amael Moinard (Cofidis), then by Kazakh Dmitry Muravyev (Astana) at kilometre 22.
Three men in a break
In the second climb, the Cote de Montsalvy (km 30), Casar came first ahead of Moinard and Muravyev. As the bunch regrouped and relaxed, the gap kept increasing, reaching six minutes at km 50, 8:20 at km 56, 9:50 at km 61 and a maximum of 11 minutes at kilometre 70.
At the first sprint in Espalion (km 70), Casar beat Moinard and Muravyev.
The rapid pace (42.6 kph in the first hour) forced three riders out of the race: Vaugrenard (FDJ) with bronchitis, Furlan (Credit Agricole) and Mori (Lampre).
Moinard reached the top of the 2nd category Cote de Biounac (km 76) ahead of Casar and Muravyev, as the lead started diminishing (7:50 at the top, 6;00 in the feeding zone). The second intermediate sprint in St Saturnin-de-Lenne (km 108) was won by Muravyev ahead of Casar and Moinard.
In the long stretch towards the finale, the bunch, led by Discovery Channel, Bouygues Telecom and Liquigas, reduced the gap – 3:30 at km 140, 2:20 at km 152 and 1:55 with 15 kms to go.
On the penultimate hill, the Cote de Chabrits, Muravyev lost touch. Casar was first at the top ahead of Moinard. The bunch were 45 seconds behind.
Contador surges
Casar was the last of the three escapees to bow but he was caught before the red flame by a group of riders including Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel), Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Frank Schleck (Team-CSC), Tadej Valjavec (Lampre), David Lopez Garcia (Caisse d’Epargne) and Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto). Under the red flame, Contador surged and only Rebellin could react. But the young Spaniard was fastest on the day and Rebellin finished second, two seconds behind, but with the fine consolation of taking the overall lead. The Italian leads Contador by six seconds overall.
The winner interview
Contador: "Gracias to Discovery"
"I’m really glad with the win. I felt super today in the last climb but I must pay homage to the whole of the Discovery Channel team, who worked hard all day. They did an amazing job. Now we’ll see what happens. It’s far from finished, especially as we have two leaders in the team, myself and Levi Leipheimer."The newsflashes
Top five placings in the 4th stage
1. Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) 4h07’26
2. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) 2 secs behind
3. David Lopez Garcia (Caisse d’Epargne) 12 secs
4. Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) 12 secs
5. Tadej Valjavec (Lampre) 17 secs