Contador wins Vuelta as Millar bows out

Dylan van Baarle, in the yellow jersey, won the Tour of Britain in London yesterday. Picture: Getty

The stage 21 9.7-kilometre time-trial – completing the three-week, 3,239.9km race – in Santiago de Compostela was won by Spain’s Adriano Malori (Movistar) in 11 minutes 12  seconds.

The Vuelta was the race everyone in cycling had predicted the 2014 Tour de France would be, full of excitement with the main protagonists duelling for victory.

Vincenzo Nibali won the Tour after Froome (wrist/hand) and Contador (leg) suffered race-ending fractures. Both showed remarkable powers of recovery to contest for the red jersey, which Contador took after the tenth stage time-trial to Borja.

Contador won Saturday’s 20th stage in Puerto de Ancares, his second stage success of the race, ahead of Froome to all but confirm a sixth Grand Tour victory, barring sporting catastrophe on the short, final race against the clock.

In the end it was a victory procession for Contador, who has two Tour de France titles and one Giro d’Italia crown and won by one minute 11 seconds. Contador clocked 12mins 52secs, with Froome 26secs quicker.

The stage was described as El Final del Camino (the End of the Road) and for Scot David  Millar (Garmin-Sharp) it was particularly poignant. The 37-year-old Scot is to retire at the end of this season and the Vuelta was his last major race. Millar, a drug cheat turned anti-doping campaigner and winner of stages in all three Grand Tours, was 97th on the stage.

Meanwhile, Sir Bradley Wiggins is ready to take on the world after claiming third place in the Tour of Britain. Wiggins (Team Sky) won the penultimate stage of the race, the stage 8a 8.8-kilometre time-trial, before Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) once again triumphed on British soil with a sprint victory over Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) on Whitehall.

Dylan van Baarle (Garmin-Sharp) had a 19-second overnight advantage and it proved sufficient to succeed Wiggins as champion, the Dutchman taking the yellow jersey by ten seconds from Polish runner-up Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

Wiggins, who won the time-trial in nine minutes 50.71 seconds to move up four places to third overall, was 22secs behind and pleased with a podium place after a route that did not suit his style, with short, sharp climbs late in a number of stages.

“They [race organisers] were touting it as the toughest edition [and] most people say it’s the hardest race they’ve done all year,” Wiggins said.

“I was sort of fit for one thing coming here, with only 34 days’ racing this year, so I feel like to be here now a week on, in third place, just 20-odd seconds off, I’m pretty pleased with that.”

Wiggins, who won the 2013 Tour of Britain title, began the day 47secs behind Van Baarle, but rolled down the start ramp intent on claiming a stage success from his national tour and duly delivered.

The 34-year-old Londoner will ride the six-man team time-trial with Team Sky next Sunday at the Road World Championships, before switching into the Great Britain skinsuit for the  individual time-trial.

“There’s a chance I could win it,” added Wiggins, who in 2013 was second to Germany’s Tony Martin, who will again be  favourite. “I feel in the form I’m in I’ll be in the ball-park. We’ll see on the day. I thought I’d be closer to him (Martin) last year and he put 42 seconds into me.”