Nieve - Great to see hard work paying off

Euskaltel completed what is likely to be their last ever Tour de France stage on Sunday without great fanfare.

Sprinting sensation Juan José Lobato couldn't find the perfect spot in the last few clicks and was left to settle for a distant 15th. Rubén Pérez came in a couple of places ahead of him.

On GC, everything naturally stayed the same, meaning Mikel Nieve finished a solid 12th in his Tour bow.

"I'm pleased overall with my first Tour", he said. "I'll go home happy with my performance. I've been very consistent over the three weeks. On some stages I stayed with the best, and that was huge for me. The legs were great on the Mont Ventoux and at Ax 3 Domaines. I'd worked hard going into the race, and it's great to see that work paying off in the biggest race of all".

Results:

• (1, Marcel Kittel (Argos), 3:06:14)
• 13, Rubén Pérez, s.t.
• 15, Juan José Lobato, s.t.
• 42, Mikel Astarloza, 0:10
• 50, Ion Izagirre, s.t.
• 52, Mikel Nieve, s.t.
• 79, Juan José Oroz, s.t.
• 83, Romain Sicard, s.t.
• 100, Igor Antón, 0:34

Final general classification:

• (1, Christopher Froome (Sky), 83:56:40)
• 12, Mikel Nieve, 20:01
• 23, Igor Antón, 48:07
• 42, Mikel Astarloza, 1:36:27
• 69, Ion Izagirre, 2:21:32
• 78, Juan José Oroz, 2:33:55
• 122, Romain Sicard, 3:23:54
• 139, Rubén Pérez, 3:43:15
• 165, Juan José Lobato, 4:07:55

Photo: BCPT