Tondo wins Vuelta a Castilla y Leon

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Ben Swift (Sky) earned his third win of the season with a sprint victory in the final stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon. Unlike stages one and two when Sky controlled the closing kilometres only to have Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) parlay their lead-out train into victory for himself, today Sky fired on all cylinders in the last two kilometres, with Swift coming off the wheel of teammate Russell Downing to take a commanding stage win.

Ventoso crossed the line in second place while compatriot Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) rounded out the top three.

Overnight leader Xavier Tondo (Movistar) finished comfortably in the field to claim the general classification title. The top of the leader board remained unchanged as the 32-year-old Spaniard maintained his nine-second advantage over runner-up Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) and 19-second lead over third-placed Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

"We knew that it wasn't going to be easy, and even though there wasn't much wind, it was a fast stage, the breakaway did not get formed until the 80th kilometer and we were a bit nervous at some point," said Tondo. "The group even got split into two, and when you see a victory is so close to you, it's easy to get worried, but the team again was sensational and we had no problems to keep the jersey.

"It's not an important thing, but Movistar Team's first victory was mine in Argentina, and also the first overall victory now. It's really emotive for me, because this kind of thing takes you into history.

Tondo was elated to take his first stage race victory in four years after coming close on other occasions.

"To tell the truth, I had a strong desire to win a stage race again," said Tondo. "Since I won the 2007 Volta a Portugal, I took no other victories and went too close so many times: 2nd in Asturias in 2008; 2nd in Andalusia and Burgos and 3rd in Madrid, in 2009; 2nd in Catalunya last season...I was really willing to do well in any of the three big races in the beginning of the year (Paris-Nice, Catalunya and País Vasco), and for some reason I couldn't cope with it.

"I lost my top-ten place in Paris-Nice in the final day and went into 5th and 6th in the other two, but I was having a bitter taste and wanted to do something else. At the end, the victory came from where I didn't expect it to happen, because theoretically I was to be on holiday at this point, but I'll be racing Flèche and Liège after this one."

The break of the day went clear after approximately 80km of racing and was comprised of Volodymir Gustov (Saxo Bank Sungard), Alex Dowsett (Sky), Matthias Brandle (Geox-TMC), Jose Alberto Benitez (Andalucia Caja Granada), Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural), Victor Hugo Pena Colombia Es Pasion-Cafe De Colombia), Yannick Talabardon (Saur-Sojasun), Paolo Locatelli (Colnago-CSF Inox) and Sergio Ferreira Sousa (Barbot-Efapel).

The nine escapees held a three-minute lead with 30km to go, but the efforts of Movistar, Rabobank and Burgos 2016-Castilla y León ultimately neutralised the break, albeit with only two kilometres remaining, setting up the bunch gallop to the finish line.