Paris Nice finale

Just for the record, it was Rebellin who rightly and finally won Paris-Nice overall, with Sanchez taking the final stage. CN reported:This was one of the most beautiful Paris-Nice ever held, with a lot of battles and suspense. "It was a very hard and very nice race," Rebellin explained. "After losing to Alberto Contador last year on the final day, I was a bit nervous today. Especially because I know [Rinaldo] Nocentini very well. We've done the world championships together and we're very good friends. I only had three seconds advantage. That's nothing. I was afraid of crashing in the finale and lose everything. Even 45 seconds over [Yaroslav] Popovych wasn't much. He attacked strongly in the last climb. It was a highly contested race till the end."

It confirms Popovych and Sanchez are in form and Rebellin certainly can't be discounted for the classics in what will probably be his last year as a pro. Milan-San Remo will be a real contest with these riders plus the like s of Oscar Freire in the mix.