Samu 8th in Paris-Nice

Samu Sánchez once again proved he`s among the strongest in Paris-Nice when he placed 8th on today`s hilly stage. In a sprint for second place, Samu grabbed 8th, and lies 13th overall before Sunday`s last stage.

Euskaltel did a great stage today. With a six-men strong break up the road, and with all six riders sitting well placed on GC, Euskaltel took control of the peloton and started a frantic chase. Especially Markel Irizar and Andoni Aranaga were to be seen at the very front of the peloton several times, as the peloton started to take back time from the escapees. The peloton got back together before the last climb, a short 2nd category hill, where Alberto Contador, Luis León Sanchez, David Lopez Garcia and Sylvain Chavanel got away. Samu was a part of that small group for a while, but drifted back into the chasing group, where he did a lot of work to reel in the leaders. Samu`s work payd off, as the peloton brought everyone but Luis Sanchez back. In the final sprint, as I said earlier, Samu placed 7th and therefore got 8th on the stage. The rest of the Euskaltel riders came in further back, as the hard work earlier on the stage took its toll. Gorka Verdugo was 37th, 4:28 back, Mikel Astarloza 55th, 5:38 behind, Markel Irizar 112th, 15:21 behind, Rúben Perez 117th, 17:47 behind, Andoni Aranaga 118th, at the same time as Rúben, and Alan Pérez 123rd, 19:08 back. Before the last stage, Euskaltel lie 10th in the team rankings, with Samu lying 13th overall at 46 seconds, Gorka Verdugo 32nd and Mikel Astarloza 39th.