Contador wins stage 1 of Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco

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Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) confirmed his intentions to win the Vuelta al Pais Vasco with a powerful solo attack on the last steep climb of the opening stage that gave him victory and the first leader's jersey of the race.

Contador and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) distanced their big-name rivals on the second climb of the Alto de Gaintza and then Contador surged clear in the final 500 metres as the mad Basque cycling fans cheered him on. Contador defended his lead on the descent to beat Valverde by 14 seconds.

Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) finished third at 34 seconds, with several other riders, including Cadel Evans (BMC) two seconds behind him. Tejay van Garderen (BMC) finished 18th, in a chase group at 58 seconds.

"The Tour of the Basque Country is a race that always excites me and brings back very good memories," Contador told Biciciclismo after the podium ceremony.

"My hair stood on end on the final part of the climb with all the people there. I want to thank everyone, it's amazing if they turned out like that, hopefully there'll be all that affection at every race."

Despite taking control of the race lead on the opening stage, Contador remained pragmatic about his chances of overall victory.

"I knew the first stage would be very important, so I trained hard in the last few days because the first stage of a race always seems to be my worst day," he said.

"The result is very good, but the Vuelta is still wide open. This race has a different story every day, it's like a series of Classics in a row. It's nice to have won but this is just the beginning. Nothing has been decided, far from it."

Eight climbs in 153km of racing

The 153km stage was a tough first day in the saddle, with eight categories climbs and lots of narrow country lanes in the heart of the Basque Country.

Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural-RGA), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Romain Sicard (Europcar) and Davide Villela (Cannondale) formed the break of the day, gaining more than four minutes but the Movistar team kept them under control with help from Contador's teammates.

The riders faced the steep Gaintza climb twice. The first time, with 50km to go, saw the gap to the break fall significantly, with the peloton coming together with 25km to go as the fatigue of the stage set in and the Tinkoff-Saxo team did more work.

Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Shimano) made a lone attack but the peloton hunted him down on the twisting decent to the foot of the second ascent of the Muro de Gaintza.

The Muro de Gaintza is only 2.3km long but has an average gradient of 13%, with a kilometre at a 16%. Position going onto the climb was vital and Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo set up Valverde and Contador. Valverde was the first to make a serious acceleration mid-climb and managed to open a gap with Contador on his wheel.

They look set to ride together but as the gradient steepened and the Basque fans waved their flag and cheered, Contador attacked and distanced Valverde with his trademark 'en danseuse' style. He quickly opened a gap as the crowds opened to let him through and had a precious 15-second lead at the summit.

Contador is an excellent descender and kept his lead on Valverde during the twisting descent and gained further time on his rivals by the time he reached the finish in Ordizia.

There was no time bonus on offer at the line but there was little need for it; Contador had shown who is the strongest on the first day of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. He will wear the leader's jersey during Tuesday's 155.8km stage from Ordizia to Dantxarinea.

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