Alberto Contador Wins the Vuelta a Espana

Alberto Contador sealed the victory in the 63rd Vuelta a Espana bike race on September 21st. He was the defending champion from 2007.

In the 2008 Tour of Spain, Contador was the odds-on favorite, and with that came the pressure to perform - from his team, his fans, and most of all, from the people of Spain.

At 25, Contador becomes just the fifth member of the grand tour “triple crown” club - winning the Tour de France, the Giro de Italia, and the Vuelta. The other cycling greats to accomplish this feat are Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.

Contador won 2 stages on the way to victory. His final time would actually have put him in a virtual tie with Levi Leipheimer, but it was the time bonuses that Contador collected in his two stage wins and other places that assured him the win. Contador has 58 seconds in time bonuses - 40 seconds for his stage wins - to Leipheimer's 12 seconds. Though Leipheimer won both the time trials, those did not reward any time bonus.

Leipheimer finished in 2nd place, while Carlos Sastra rounded out the podium finishers in 3rd place.

David Moncoutie (Team Cofidis) won the climbing stage to Pla-de-Beret and claimed the best climber’s jersey. France had a strong showing at the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, with stage victories by Sebastien Hinault (Credit Agricole) and strong rides by Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis), who became the first Frenchman to wear the leader’s jersey since Laurent Jalabert. Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) won a stage in his grand tour debut and went on to claim the points jersey. Spanish riders claimed 6 stages in all, with two by Contador, three by Caisse d’Epargne and one by Oscar Freire (Rabobank). Paolo Bettini, Leiphemier and Tom Boonen all took two wins each. 131 of 171 riders who started the Tour of Spain finished - most who dropped out left early to train specifically for the upcoming world championships.