Contador completes third overall win of the year

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Alberto Contador (Astana) sewed up his third general classification victory of the 2010 season after safely negotiating the final stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in Spain on Sunday.

Contador finished mid-pack in the final stage into Santiago de Compostela, which was won by Portuguese rider Sergio Ribeiro (Barbot-Siper).

Ribeiro triumphed in a sprint finale over Spanish pair Alberto Benitez (Footon-Servetto) and Angel Vicioso (Andalucia-Cajasur).

Contador added the Castilla y Leon title (the third of his career) to his overall wins at Paris-Nice and the Vuelta ao Algarve. He finished the race on Sunday with the same margin that had followed his individual time trial win on Saturday. Igor Antón finished second at 41 seconds and Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia) took the final podium position, 39 seconds further back.

The peloton gets stuck in on Sunday

Despite a question mark over how foreign riders were going to get home after the race, in light of the disruptions to European air travel, the peloton wasted no time in attacking the 171.6 kilometre course. The high pace meant it took until kilometre 30 for the first break to form.

Once away, however, the eight-man group built itself a rapid advantage, that had extended beyond two minutes after 20 kilometres on the attack. The eight escapees being: Arnold Jeannesson (Caisse d'Epargne), Grischa Niermann (Rabobank), Markel Irizar (RadioShack), Jose Angel Gomez Marchante (Andalusia-Cajasur), Gonzalo Rabuñal (Xacobeo Galicia), Ivan Melero (Burgos 2016-Castilla), Jose Herrada (Caja Rural) and Jose Mendes (La-Rota Dos Moveis).

Gomez Marchante led the leaders over the only climb of the day, the Category 3 Montecalvo, as they continued to press their advantage. By kilometre 80 their gap had stretched to 3:40, but this would be prove to be the furthest it would grow.

As the distance passed the 100 kilometre marker, the gap had already begun to dip, primarily under the insistence of Astana and Euskaltel-Euskadi at the front of the peloton behind. The lead settled at the three minute mark until the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela, 25 kilometres from home.

Within 13 kilometres, the leaders' were hanging onto just 60 seconds of their advantage. With the peloton closing fast, Irizar, Jeannesson, Herrada and Mendes launched a last gasp attempt to deny the sprinters their day. Their challenge was a brave one, and with five kilometres to go a gap of 30 seconds appeared to give them hope of staying away until the end.

Alas, the peloton had timed their run to perfection as they swallowed the quartet up inside the final kilometre of the race. Sergio Ribeiro (Barbot-Siper) proved the fastest of the stampeding peloton as he swept through to take his first win of the season, and the first victory by a Continental rider in the race.