Spaniard Alberto Contador won the Tour of Spain on Sunday to become the first rider in 25 years to win all three of cycling’s major stage races.
Second overall and 46 seconds behind the 25-year-old Astana rider was Levi Leipheimer of the US. Carlos Sastre of Spain was third at four minutes and 12 seconds.
“I feel like an enormous weight’s been taken off my shoulders,” Contador told Spanish television after completing the final stage from San Sebastian de los Reyes to Madrid, won by Dane Matti Breschel. “They’ve been calling me the winner of the race since February and that’s a lot of pressure.”
After winning the Tour de France last year and the Giro d’Italia this year, the Tour of Spain was Contador’s third victory in a major tour in 15 months.
No rider has taken all three major Tours since Frenchman Bernard Hinault in 1983.
Only five riders — Hinault, Jacques Anquetil of France, Belgian Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi of Italy and now Contador — have completed the “grand slam.”
Contador, from Pinto near Madrid, based victory on back-to-back mountain stage wins.
After keeping within range of his rivals in the first two weeks, Contador broke away alone on the ascent of the daunting Alto de L’Angliru climb on stage 13 to take the lead.
The Spaniard then strengthened his overall advantage with his second victory in 24 hours on the Fuentes de Invierno summit finish.
Barring one crash which left him slightly injured, Contador had a trouble-free final week, with US teammate Leipheimer taking a fourth win for the Astana squad in Saturday’s mountain time trial.
“The truth is I’m still not fully conscious of what I have achieved,” Contador said. “Perhaps with the passage of time, I’ll be able to savor it,” he said.
Contador finished the Vuelta in 80 hours, 40 minutes, 23 seconds.
“I had some tough days in the mountain stages in the Pyrenees, I was worried I couldn’t drop my rivals,” Contador told reporters on Saturday. “But when we got to the Angliru, the team set me up perfectly for the stage win and I felt I was on top of my game. In any case, victories always feel better when you’ve had problems. Before 2007 I couldn’t possibly imagine that I’d win all three major Tours in such a short time.”
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
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