Contador shows his class to claim second Paris-Nice race

ALBERTO Contador has claimed the Paris-Nice race for the second time in his career after a nail-biting tenth place finish kept him top of the overall standings.

MORE SUCCESS: Alberto Contador has added another race win to his collection after claiming the Paris-Nice race in France (Getty Images)

The Spaniard, who has won the Tour de France twice, in 2007 and 2009, and will be a favourite again this year, finished tenth in the 119km seventh stage of the race to the sun.

That result was enough to keep the Astana rider 11 seconds ahead of compatriot Alejandro Valverde in the final standings as he reached Nice in a time of 28:35.35 hours.

Valverde pushed Contador, who won the fourth stage on Thursday, all the way but his third place stage finish was not enough to take the yellow jersey off his fellow Spaniard.

"It is very difficult to win Paris-Nice, especially when you're the man to beat," said Contador.

"So it's like a liberation. You have to keep cool. As the years go by, I become more mature.

"Today it was short but intense as I had to reply to every attack.

"It was a great emotion on the podium as it would have been a pity to lose a big race like Paris-Nice on sprint bonuses."

The stage victory was taken by Cofidis's Amael Moinard after he outsprinted breakaway partner Thomas Voeckler for Bbox-Bouygues on the Promenade des Anglais.

As well as winning the final stage, Moinard also claimed the overall King of the Mountains jersey while Liquigas's Peter Sagan took the points title.

Australian Simon Gerrans was Team Sky's highest placed rider as he finished the day in the third group 59 seconds behind Moinard to hang on to his 15th place in the general classification.

Meanwhile, Astana also claimed the fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico in Colmurano as Enrico Gasparotto finished on top of a four-man sprint for the line.

The Italian's breakaway was caught by Stefano Garzelli, Maxim Iglinskiy and Cadel Evans with little over 1.5km to go.

But Gasparotto confidently warded off their attentions in the sprint finish to boost his confidence ahead of Saturday's prestigious Milan-Sanremo race.

Androni Giocattoli's Michele Scarponi recovered from an ugly crash to maintain a 10 seconds lead in the general classification ahead of Monday's penultimate 134km stage between Montecosaro and Macerata.

Finally, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong finished ninth in the Cape Argus in South Africa.

In Africa's biggest cycling race, the American attacked near the end to set up RadioShack teammate Daryl Impey in the sprint finish but Team Medscheme's home favourite Malcolm Lange prevailed for his third Cape Argus victory.