Salas wins Tres Días de Álava

Young Basque Ibai Salas took out the overall of the Tres Días de Álava earlier today through second place in the race's final stage. Lizarte's Rafael Marquez took the stage win in a sprint.

The final stage, a 108km ride from Elciego to Lapuebla de Labarca, went ahead without any major problems (contrary to what happened yesterday), and as anticipated a small group duked it out for the win in a sprint. Lizarte's 20-year-old climber, who placed 11th on day one and seventh in the prestigious Subida a Gorla earlier this year, beat Salas and Jesús Alberto Rubio from Andalucía for his maiden win of the year. Caja Rural's Salas had no trouble hanging on to his overall lead though, winning the race outright ahead of today's victor and Koplad-Uni2's Iñigo Ojeda in third.

As for Naturgas, Loïc Chetout showed he's in shape with a sixth-place finish, catapulting him to fifth overall. Chetout was active throughout and merited his top overall placing, while Jon Larrinaga, heavily favoured pre-race, struggled to keep up today after an encouraging performance on day one, and had to settle for 12th overall.

Stage results:

• (1, Rafael Márquez (Lizarte), 2:44:22)
• 6, Loïc Chetout, s.t.
• 17, Jon Larrinaga, 0:30
• 40, Mikel Iturria, 4:38
• 64, Imanol Estévez, 14:53
• 68, Damien García, 15:01
• 70, Pablo Comins, 15:03
• 84, Karl Baudron, 15:07

General classification:

• (1, Ibai Salas (Caja Rural), 5:08:52)
• 5, Loïc Chetout, 0:04
• 12, Jon Larrinaga, 0:34
• 44, Mikel Iturria, 11:25

Chetout ran away with the Metas Volantes-prize, whilst Larrinaga finished as best-ranked local rider. As a team, Naturgas ended up fifth.

Full results here. 
Photo: www.teamcajaruralblogspot.com