Sanchez wins Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco

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Sammy Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) has won the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco for the first time in his career after riding to victory in the closing time trial. Overnight general classification leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) rode the time trial of his life to finish sixth on the stage, but he ceded 21 seconds to Sanchez and finished in second overall at 12 seconds.

Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) finished second on the stage, six seconds behind Sanchez, which moved the Dutchman into third overall on the final general classification.

Time trial world champion Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), winner of the final time trial stage last year at a different venue, took third on the day, seven seconds off the pace, on a course not ideally suited to the powerhouse German.

"Right now I am at peace with myself and the fans," said Sanchez. "At 34 years old, I have gained a victory which has resisted me. I was third, had won stages and have been the leader [in previous years]. I have arrived, perhaps, in better shape than other years and I have not had a bad day.

"The team has been outstanding. We are a small team fighting with big teams with budgets of 19 and 20 million euros, but we have perseverance and have had the mentality and have done the job well. Since the first day my colleagues rode in support and left me in a position to finish well."

With the future of the Euskaltel-Euskadi team uncertain, Sanchez was proud to deliver victory for his squad on their home soil in the Basque Country. "The victory comes at a time when the future is uncertain," said Sanchez. "We've lived through trying times and can only pedal our bikes and so far we have done better than ever. My case is the clearest example of the success of that philosophy, that it's based on hard work. We are giving the sponsors reasons to continue with the project."

For the second straight year Joaquim Rodriguez started the final stage time trial in the leader's jersey, only to come up short, but the Katusha Spaniard was proud of his effort.

"I'm very happy with my performance," said Rodriguez. "I'm not a specialist of races against the clock but I think I'm improving and this result attests to it. That's obviously good news for big stage races.

"Unfortunately, Sanchez today was really great. He knows these routes very well, he's more used to the ITT than me and he did a great performance. I didn't do my best in downhills, also because the road was slippery and it was not worth the risk. Anyways, I had good feelings."

Not your usual closing time trial...

Riders at Pais Vasco faced an incredibly challenging 18.9km race of truth on the sixth and final day of racing, replete with two steep, roughly tarmacked climbs in the opening four kilometres, a third climb topping out inside two kilometres to go and technical descents made even more treacherous by rain throughout the day.

The time of the first man out of the start house, Travis Meyer (GreenEdge), would hold as the fastest until Stef Clement (Rabobank) went two seconds faster than the young Australian to set the benchmark at 29:10.

Clement's effort kept the Dutchman in the hot seat until deep into the start order when five-time Italian time trial champion Marco Pinotti (BMC) went seven seconds faster for a time of 29:03.

Time trial world champion Tony Martin began the stage in 17th overall on general classification, 54 seconds behind race leader Joaquim Rodriguez. Last year the German time trial stalwart blistered the concluding time trial for the stage victory on a day where he put 1:17 into Sammy Sanchez and 2:08 into Joaquim Rodriguez, Today's parcours, however, was a vastly different affair which blunted the pure power of the Omega Pharma-QuickStep rider and the 26-year-old German even suffered a crash during his morning recon of the circuit.

Nonetheless, Martin is a master against the clock and set the fastest time at the mid-race split en route to the new best time of the day, 28:55.

Not long after Martin finished, Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) stormed across the finish line and edged into the hot seat by one second on the time trial world champion. Mollema went six seconds faster than Martin at the mid-race split and hung on to set the day's new best time.

Starting the day third on general classification, Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) dropped off the final podium with his 33rd place effort which resulted in an 11th place overall result.

All eyes were then on the final two starters of the day, Sammy Sanchez and Joaquim Rodriguez, separated by just nine seconds overall.

Sanchez, wearing the skinsuit of points classification leader, roared through the intermediate checkpoint with the second-fastest split of the day, four seconds behind Mollema's mark of 14:47 and two seconds quicker than Martin. Rodriguez, hardly noted for his time trial prowess, was not going down without a fight and went through the intermediate checkpoint with the 10th fastest time, 12 seconds behind Sanchez.

The Euskaltel-Euskadi Spaniard had erased his nine-second deficit to Rodriguez and now held a virtual three-second general classification lead over the Katusha rider. Sanchez continued to ride flawlessly over the remainder of the parcours, powering up the final climb, putting his descending skills to fine use on the descent, and then powered through the finish line to set the fastest time of the day at 28:48, six seconds better than Mollema.

Rodriguez made a valiant effort but continued to lose time to Sanchez through to the finish where he clocked the sixth fastest time, 21 seconds off the pace. While Rodriguez had yet again lost an overall general classification title in a stage race's final time trial, he nonetheless showed marked improvement in his abilities against the clock and finished on the final podium in second overall, 12 seconds behind Sanchez.