Sevilla wins Vuelta Chihuahua

Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) was the final winner of the fourth Vuelta a Chihuahua, finishing the sixth and final stage safely in the bunch to best Gregorio Ladino (Tecos Trek) by six seconds in the overall classification.

After 118 kilometers from Delicias to Chihuahua, it was Javier Benitez (Contentpolis-AMPO) who took home the final stage, although with a very slight gap to Takashi Miyazawa (Meitan) and Cristian Benenati (ISD). The Spaniard achieved his third victory this year, which equals his 'record' of 2008, a total of six stages in two attempts.

"Winning three stages is very complicated," Benitez said, "so I think I should be very happy. Fortunately in this Vuelta I had to deliver me. Both staff and riders have given me much confidence. I only had to finish their work. Today's stage was not very hard, so the riders had plenty of strength at the end. For me, this was the hardest day I've had. Today I could not fail a second time, having been second yesterday."

The stage began with an initial breakaway with Gregor Gazvoda (Meitan-Hompo), Hector Espasandín (Xacobeo-Galicia), Andrew Randell (Planet Energy) and Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit), who joined in mid-stage Archimedes Lam (Alpura Delicias) and José Ochoa (Arenas Afamado). Their maximum lead was only 1:39 and they were neutralized in the second of five final laps of Chihuahua.

Sevilla cruised home to claim the overall honors, following up on the success teammate Paco Mancebo last year. "This is a triumph of the entire team. Whenever you win you feel very euphoric, but without my team, it wouldn’t have succeeded. And besides companions, they are friends.

"It is a very important success which motivates me to keep fighting. Despite the hypocrisy that exists in the world of cycling, I'm still winning. It has not been an easy win, but not too complicated for the team's work, especially with Mancebo, who only has to look at me and we understand each other.

Sevilla climbed to the podium ahead of Gregorio Ladino (Tecos), 6 seconds, and Rui Costa (Caisse d'Epargne) at 1:03, also winner of the mountains classification.

David Vitoria (Rock Racing) took the intermediate sprints classification, Michael Kreder (Rabobank) finished as the best under-23 of the Vuelta; Francisco Matamoros (Arenas), as the best Mexican rider and Caisse d'Epargne won the team overall standing