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Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) continued his winning return from suspension for his part in Operacion Puerto by winning stage three of Paris-Nice at Lac de Vassivière. In a tight uphill sprint, the Spaniard just about held off the fast-finishing Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge) to claim his fourth victory since his ban expired in January and edge ten seconds closer to the overall lead of Bradley Wiggins (Sky). As was the case during that suspension, Valverde enjoyed robust support from his Movistar team on the road to Lac de Vassivière. They injected urgency into the peloton's pursuit of the early break when they began to chase the early break in earnest with 35km to go, and José Joaquin Rojas et al were again on hand to marshal Valverde towards the front underneath the red kite. Valverde had retained close ties with the Movistar (formerly Caisse d'Epargne) set-up throughout his ban and his performances in 2012 suggest that their relationship scarcely seems to have skipped a beat
