Contador best against the clock

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank SunGard) made up for yesterday's bad luck on stage three by taking the individual time trial on stage four of Vuelta a Castilla y Leon.

The Spaniard was hit by bad luck in yesterday’s stage during an attack on the final climb of the day and he was forced to stop and receive mechanical help. He lost significant time and slipped out of the GC fight.

However there was no bad luck and no mistaking his strength on today’s 11.2 kilometre course setting a time of 13:42 that none of the favourites could match.

His closest challenge came from his young teammate Richie Porte, who finished a second back.

The biggest winner of the day was Xavier Tondo (Movistar), who had started the day 3 seconds down on race leader Bauke Mollema (Rabobank). The Spaniard finished sixth and was able to overturn that margin and with one stage remaining leads Mollema by 9 seconds, with Igor Anton Hernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) third, 17 seconds down.

Sunday's final stage will see the riders set from Madrigal de Las Altas Torres to Medina del Campo, covering 167.7 kilometres.