Davide Rebellin of Gerolsteiner ripped a wicked attack on the descent of the last of seven climbs of the day, leaving race leader Robert Gesink of Rabobank in his wake and roaring to the lead in the overall classification at Paris-Nice Saturday.

Though Rebellin didn’t win the 206 km stage from Sisteron to Cannes — that went to Cofidis rider Sylvain Chavanel — Rebellin finished 1 minute 23 seconds ahead of Gesink and took the yellow jersey by 3 seconds over Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R and 48 seconds ahead of 10 Speed fave Yaroslav Popovich of Silence-Lotto. Gesink, who had taken the race lead with a big ride on Mont Ventoux, is now fourth, 51 seconds in arrears.

Rebellin’s attack off the Cat-2 Col du Tanneron, in consort with Caisse d’Epargne’s Luis Sanchez, caught the peloton by surprise, and the duo was joined by Nocentini, Chavanel and Lampre’s Damiano Cunego. The five then reeled in CSC’s Bobby Julich, the lone survivor of the day’s eight-man breakaway that included dual Paris-Nice stage winner Big Gert Steegmans of Quick Step, about 10 km from the finish.

Meanwhile, Gesink fell 28 seconds behind initially, then 1:29 in arrears as the six-man group shared the workload on the run-in into Cannes, before Chavanel attacked 500 meters from the finish. Chavanel crossed the line first, 2 seconds ahead of Sanchez, Julich and Cunego, in that order. Rebellin and Nocentini then crossed the line together, 6 seconds behind Chavanel.

After the race, Davide Rebellin had this to say, as quoted by letour.fr: “I knew the descent well and I knew it was dangerous but I think it was the only place to attack. My breakaway companions worked well in the finale. Now it’s far from over because I remember last year when I led by six seconds at the start of the last day and lost. My experience helped me in this stage but it also tells me that it is not over. I live in Monaco and know tomorrow’s roads by heart. They’re my training roads.”

letour.fr quoted Chavanel as saying: “I’ve been close to a stage victory for three or four years and my motivation was high. I told my team-mates I was feeling great. I did the start of the descent with Cunego and we worked all together well. With one kilometre to go, I decided not to take my turns. I went for Sanchez when he surged and it went all the way. It’s a great emotion, a great pleasure. This has been my best Paris-Nice and to top it by a stage victory is great for me. The yellow jersey was a first reward, this is another one.”

Cool thing: On letour, Rebellin’s move was called a “swashbuckling attack,” which makes me think of the Seinfeld episode about the Puffy Shirt