Alberto Contador sealed victory in the Vuelta a Espana with a solid
performance in the closing time trial stage in Santiago de Compostela.
In wet conditions on Sunday he lost 27 seconds to Briton Chris Froome.
But it was enough for Spaniard Contador to take his third Vuelta title, finishing one minute and 10 seconds ahead of the Team Sky rider overall.
"It's a dream for me to win three Vueltas," said 31-year-old Contador. "I really was not expecting it."
Movistar's Adriano Malori had the best of Sunday's weather and won the stage from Jesse Sergent and Rohan Dennis.
Tinkoff-Saxo rider Contador had won stage 20 on Saturday to extend his overall lead from Britain's Froome to one minute and 37 seconds to all but secure the title and add to his wins in 2008 and 2012.
It was an amazing recovery not only by Contador, 31, who broke his leg less than two months ago in a crash that forced him out of the Tour de France, but also by Froome, who broke his hand and wrist in a crash that ended his Tour defence.
"These past two months, I have had a lot of ups and downs and the support of the fans has been crucial," said Contador.
"I am extremely pleased and just want to thank the team as without them this win would have been impossible."
Froome was similarly upbeat, saying: "I think given how I've come into this race, I couldn't be happier with this result.
"I didn't know if I was coming here to fight for top 10, to fight for the podium or to fight for the win, so this is really going to give me a lot of motivation going forward.
"I think we can take away a lot from this race."
For another British rider, though, it marked the end of an era. The Vuelta was the final Grand Tour of David Millar's career as the 37-year-old Scot is retiring at the end of the season.
General Classification
1. Alberto Contador (Spa/Tinkoff-Saxo) 81 hours 25 minutes 05 seconds
2. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +1:10"
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +1:50"
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) +3:25"
5. Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana) +4:48"
6. Samuel Sanchez (Spa/BMC Racing) +9:30"
7. Daniel Martin (Ire/Garmin) +10:38"
8. Warren Barguil (Fra/Giant) +11:50"
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita/Cannondale) +12:50"
10. Daniel Navarro (Spa/Cofidis) +13:02"
Also related to this story
- Contador sees off Froome challenge Cycling
- Hansen wins 19th stage of Vuelta Cycling
- Aru pips Froome to Vuelta stage win Cycling
- Degenkolb wins as Contador leads Cycling
- Duo disqualified as Contador wins Cycling
- Froome loses ground as Niemiec wins Cycling
- Navarro wins maiden Vuelta stage Cycling
- Degenkolb takes Vuelta sprint win Cycling
- Aru wins as Contador retains lead Cycling
- Quintana crashes out of Vuelta Cycling
- Contador takes advantage in Vuelta Cycling
- How to get into Road Cycling Get Inspired
- What's on BBC Sport this week Spor
No comments:
Post a Comment