Valencia: Birthday boy Plaza takes tour
Racing in Spain (Getty Images)
Ruben Plaza, riding with the Benfica team, won the Tour of the Valencia Community on Saturday to celebrate his birthday in style.
Plaza, who turned 28 on Friday, triumphed on home ground after the fifth and final stage, a 149.km ride around Valencia which was won by Italian Alessandro Petacchi in a sprint finish.
"I am very happy and I want to warmly congratulate my teammates for all the work they have done," said Plaza who had taken over the leader's yellow jersey on Thursday in Ibi, the town where he was born.
Plaza's winning margin was five seconds over compatriot Manuel Vazquez and 21secs in front of third-placed Spaniard Xavier Florencio.
Pre-race favourite, Alberto Contador, was sixth overall, 33secs off the pace.
For full results & report from the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana see Cyclingnews.com.
Results
| 1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram | 3:12:54 (46.47km/h) |
| 2 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre | 0:00:06 |
| 3 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas | 0:00:04 |
| 4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram | |
| 5 Rubén Pérez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
| 6 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom | |
| 7 Javier Benitez (Spa) Benfica | |
| 8 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne | |
| 9 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas | |
| 10 Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita) Lampre | |
| Final general classification | |
| 1 Rubén Plaza (Spa) Benfica | 19:54:49 |
| 2 Manuel Váquez (Spa) Contentpolis - Murcia | 0:00:05 |
| 3 Xavier Florencio (Spa) Bouygues Telecom | 0:00:21 |
| 4 Iván Gutiérrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne | 0:00:24 |
| 5 Gorka Verdugo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:00:31 |
| 6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana | 0:00:33 |
| 7 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom | 0:00:35 |
| 8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas | |
| 9 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Cofidis | |
| 10 Antonio Colom (Spa) Astana |
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