Contador bares his teeth
2008-04-12 22:42
Spain - Spain's Alberto Contador overcame toothache to add the Tour of the Basque Country to his triumph in last year's Tour de France after success in the sixth and final stage here Saturday.
The Astana ace, who has dominated the week since taking the first stage, beat Australian Cadel Evans by 20 seconds in the 20km individual time trial to wrap up the ProTour event.
Evans (Silence-Lotto) finished second too in the overall standings, 30sec adrift.
"I'm thrilled as I had plenty of doubts," said Contador who revealed he'd been suffering from toothache this week. "I haven't slept much, but I didn't want to make this public to give my rivals encouragement."
The rider from Madrid, who is unable to defend his Tour de France title this season due to the omission of his team from the cycling blue riband, dominated the time trial from end to end.
He had already established more than a 20sec cushion over Evans by the four kilometre mark.