Urtasun third in Castilla y León

Pablo Urtasun hung on to his third place overall in the Vuelta a Castilla y León's final stage earlier today. The 34-year-old cleverly got into the race-deciding break on the 173,5km stage into Segovia that eliminated overnight leader Luisle Sánchez from contention, and placed ninth on the day to secure a highly creditable third overall behind Movistar's Javier Moreno and Saur's Guillaume Levarlet. Yelko Gómez of Caja Rural sprinted to the stage win.

It could have been even better for Urtasun though if it wasn't for a mishap inside the last 500 metres. With both the stage and the overall to sprint for, Urtasun, on the wheel of second-placed Levarlet, was forced to unclip both pedals just when the sprint was about to start as Levarlet lost control of his bike. Both escaped hitting the ground, but the incident meant both lost any chance of the stage and the overall. Urtasun rolled in in ninth place, four seconds down, while the Saur rider took tenth and second overall.

Talking to the press post-stage, the Euskaltel hard-man didn't hide his disappointment.

"It's a pity I had that misfortune with 400 metres to go", he told the team's website. "After suffering a lot on the Nevacerrada and cresting it on (eventual overall winner) Moreno's wheel, not being able to dispute the stage and the general classification makes me a tad angry. If you end up third because there are two guys that are stronger than you, you might be satisfied, but finishing third like this annoys me. Now I'm just looking towards the upcoming races. I've shown I'm in good form, so I'll keep fighting".

Iván Velasco put in a good shift to place 22nd on the stage and thus maintained his ninth place overall.

Cazaux, Nieve and A Pérez failed to finish. Zuazubiskar dropped out for Orbea.

Orbea put both Mikel Bizkarra and Aritz Etxebarria in early breakaway attempts today, but none of them managed to stand the pace when the going got tough towards the end. Carlos Barbero finished as the team's highest placed rider on GC, 49th.

Stage results (Orbea riders in cursive):

• (1, Yelko Gómez, Caja Rural)
• 9, Pablo Urtasun, 0:04
• 22, Iván Velasco, 1:37
• 29, Mikel Landa, 2:07
• 40, Mikel Bizkarra, 6:25
• 44, Miguel Mínguez, 8:27
• 46, Amets Txurruka, s.t.
• 52, Carlos Barbero, 8:47
• 58, Jon Aberasturi, s.t.
• 60, Aritz Bagües, s.t.
• 66, Igor Merino, s.t.
• 69, Xabier Zabalo, 9:00
• 74, Aritz Etxebarria, 15:07

Final general classification:

• (1, Javier Moreno, Movistar)
• 3, Pablo Urtasun, 0:03
• 9, Iván Velasco, 1:50
• 30, Mikel Landa, 12:08
• 42, Miguel Minguez, 18:06
• 43, Amets Txurruka, s.t.
• 49, Carlos Barbero, 18:26
• 54, Aritz Bagües, s.t.
• 59, Jon Aberasturi, 22:25
• 65, Mikel Bizkarra, 25:18
• 71, Aritz Etxebarria, 28:45
• 80, Xabier Zabalo, 35:03
• 81, Igor Merino, 37:54

Full results here.

Team classification: Euskaltel third, Orbea 11th.

Spanish rider classification: 2, Pablo Urtasun, Euskaltel.

Regional rider classification: 1, Carlos Barbero, Orbea.