Irizar wins Ruta del Sol

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Rabobank continued its winning ways as Oscar Freire claimed the team's ninth victory this season in the final stage of the Ruta del Sol. The 35-year-old Spaniard closed out the five-day Spanish stage race with back-to-back victories in the final two days of racing, this time besting 2008 Olympic road champion Sammy Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and stage two winner Jonathan Hivert (Saur-Sojasun) in Antequera.

Freire sprinted to his eighth career Ruta del Sol stage win and his victory on the final day added another honour for his palmares as he claimed the final blue points classification jersey.

The field splintered at the finish in Antequera as the parcours pitched uphill over the final kilometres followed by a descent to the finish, but overnight race leader Markel Irizar (RadioShack) crossed the line in the 33-man front group to maintain his slender one-second general classification lead over Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto). The 31-year-old Spaniard assumed the red leader's jersey after stage two and held it through to the end for the biggest victory of his career and his first-ever in a stage race.

"This is unbelievable," said Irizar. "I am so happy with this victory, but even more with the way my teammates worked for me. Jani Brajkovic, Levi Leipheimer, Robbie Hunter, Haimar Zubeldia, Dmitriy Muravyev and Ivan Rovny, they all worked for me four long days. It is a huge pleasure to be part of this team. It is hard to describe the feelings that I have now."

"A mass sprint was a perfect scenario for us, but there was still a tricky, very steep hill and dangerous descent in the last K," said RadioShack team director Viatcheslav Ekimov. "Markel was able to keep the wheel of Van den Broeck and deserves this victory. Without a doubt, he is the happiest man in Spain right now."

RadioShack placed a second rider on the final podium as Levi Leipheimer claimed third, two seconds behind Irizar. Team RadioShack's strong performance earned them the team classification title as well.

The final day of racing at the Ruta del Sol, 162.7km from Córdoba to Antequera, started quickly and the first breakaway formed after only 8km as four riders jumped clear: Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Javier Ramirez and Antonio Cabello (Andalucia Caja Granada), and Hector Gonzalez (KTM-Murcia).

Their move was short-lived, brought back after only 9km of freedom, but the next foursome to escape the peloton would be in it for the long haul. After 30km of racing Cyril Bessy (Saur-Sojasun), David Bernabeu (Andalucia Caja Granada), Xabier Zabalo (Orbea Continental) and Jan Barta (Team Netapp) escaped and built a lead hovering between two to three minutes.

While Bessy, Zabalo and Barta were all well behind on general classification and no threat to Irizar, Bernabeu started the day only 31 seconds behind the Spanish leader which ensured that RadioShack would keep close tabs on the break.

The lead quartet, however, put up a strong fight and still held a 2:20 lead with 25km remaining. RadioShack powered the peloton and chipped away at their advantage, reducing it to one minute with 10km to go, and finally neutralising their escape with three kilometres left to the finish.

With a gradual uphill finish looming and the top-ten riders separated by only 12 seconds on general classification there was still a possibility of some shuffling amongst the overall contenders, but ultimately the top of the leader board remained unchanged as Irizar and his nearest rivals all finished with the same time as stage winner Oscar Freire.