Top Sporting News

MADRID (AFP) – Spain's Francisco Ventoso grabbed the prototypal initiate of the Tour of Castilla y metropolis in a running to the line, with selection Alberto Contador closing with the aforementioned instance as the winner.

Ventoso, of Movistar, edged Italy's Manuel Belletti of Colnago-CSF Inox and Geox traveller Marco Kump of Slovenia, every in the aforementioned instance of 4hr 12mins 57secs for the 174.4 km vie from metropolis de Rioseco to Palencia.

The initiate was marked by a independent by a assemble of heptad riders, who built a lead of 12 minutes.

Contador suffered two punctures, but that did not stop the Spaniard from helping his Saxo Bank aggroup in the chase, which ended fivesome kilometres from the closing line.

Several teams, notably Team Sky, Saxo Bank and Movistar drove the measure hard at the front to ordered up the bunch running for the closing line, where Ventoso coasted bag alone to verify victory.

Saxo Bank's Evangelist revivalist was fourth, with Team Sky sprinter writer Downing in fifth.

Contador, 28, finished in 15th place with the aforementioned instance as Ventoso and relic the hot selection to verify his ordinal straightforward coverall conclusion in the event, having already won the Tour of Murcia and the Tour of territory this year.

"We dominated the measure of the arrange throughout the day as we want to ready the field in the aforementioned instance for today before the mountains and we didn't intend such help from the other teams until the finale," said Contador.

"But we're happy that the tactics worked and the fact that Evangelist (Roberts) came in ordinal is meet an player incentive for us."

The Spaniard is racing low threat of a forbiddance from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and/or the International Cycling Union (UCI) following a constructive effort for trace amounts of clenbuterol during terminal July's Tour de France, where he claimed his ordinal conclusion in the race.

He was cleared to contend in Feb when the land cycling federation (RFEC) rescinded an initial decision to assistance downbound a one-year rivalry ban.

It acknowledged the rider's verify that he had unknowingly exhausted drug-contaminated meat and was thence not negligent.

The UCI and WADA declared severally terminal month they plan to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne over the acquittal.

Source