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The 2013 Vuelta a Espana concluded with a second stage victory for young Australian Orica-GreenEDGE cyclist Michael Matthews, and the general classification won by veteran American Radioshack-Leopard cyclist Christopher Horner.
The 109.6 kilometre stage was a procession for the majority of the final stage, but eventually the action begun in earnest.
Bidding the world of cycling farewell, Basque World Tour team Euskaltel-Euskadi were given the honour of leading the peloton, ahead of Radioshack-Leopard for some of the procession.
Eventually, with roughly 40 kilometres remaining, Caja Rural’s Francisco Javier Aramendia signaled a cessation to the peace, with the Spaniard attacking to form the first breakaway of the day, to be joined by Alessandro Vanotti of Astana within a few kilometres.
The pair eventually established a maximum time advantage over the chasing peloton behind of about 45 seconds.
On such a short stage, the sprinter’s teams were never going to let a breakaway steal the stage victory.
The duo were ultimately closed down by the peloton just after the commencement of the final lap of the 5.7 kilometre nine-lap finishing circuit, where the sprinter’s teams would fight for pole position heading in to the two 180-degree hairpin bends remaining.
NetApp-Endura attempted to steal the thunder of the sprinters with a late attack, but it was quickly chased down.
Approaching the final 180-degree hairpin bend Argos-Shimano came to the fore to claim pole position approaching the beginning of the sprint finish, with the German outfit’s superior, if inexperienced, lead-out dominating the sprint.
However, Australian Michael Matthews proved the strongest sprinter, coming from behind the Argos-Shimano lead-out train to comfortably claim the stage victory.
The podium was rounded out by American sprinter Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Sharp, in second position, and young German sprinter Nikias Arndt of Argos-Shimano in third.
Alejandro Valverde comfortably won the Points Classification (green jersey) from Chris Horner and Joaquim Rodriguez.
‘Pure’ sprinters finished only as high as seventh position in the Points Classification, as the competition was not favourably preferential towards the sprinters like le Tour de France.
The King of the Mountains Classification was claimed by Frenchman Nicolas Edet of Pro-Continental team Cofidis.
The Team Classification was won by Euskaltel-Euskadi in their final Grand Tour, while also being the only team with all nine cyclists still present at the race’s conclusion.
Chris Horner claimed victory in the combination classification for being the best placed rider in a combination of the points, general, and king of the mountains classification standings.
So the countdown to the revealing of the 2014 Vuelta a Espana race route begins, with Alberto Contador provisionally confirming his participation in next year’s race via Twitter, as la Vuelta a Espana cycled through his hometown of Pinto during today’s proceedings.
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