Alberto Contador wins Tour of the Basque Country title

Alberto Contador took both stage and overall victory

Alberto Contador claimed his fourth overall victory of the Tour of the Basque Country by winning the final stage’s individual time trial in Eibar.

The 33-year-old Tinkoff rider started the day six seconds down on race leader Sergio Henao (Team Sky) in second in the general classification but stopped the clock on a 16.5km course 18 seconds quicker than the Colombian, which handed him a 12-second overall triumph.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) climbed from sixth to third overall, 37 seconds down on Contador, by finishing five seconds adrift of the Spaniard in second place on the day.

Victory was Contador's first in a stage race this season, following a third place at the Volta ao Algarve and second places at both Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya.

Britain's Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) produced a superb performance to finish fourth on the day, 53 seconds down on Contador.

The course comprised of a 6.6km climb, a 6km descent, another short and steep climb, and then a flat run to the finish.

In wet conditions, Contador flew up the opening climb, cresting its summit 23 seconds faster than Quintana and 46 seconds ahead of Henao, and although he then began to lose time to the two Colombians on the run to the finish line, his claim to both the stage win and overall victory never really looked in doubt.

Quintana was the only rider among the leading favourites who opted to change bike mid-ride, swapping his road bike for a time-trial bike with about 4km to go.

Stage six result

1 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, 29:13

2 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +5sec

3 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +18

4 Adam Yates (GB) Orica-GreenEdge, +53

5 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +1:04

Final general classification

1 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, 22:44:43

2 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky, +12sec

3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +37

4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ.fr, +1:13

5 Joaquim Rodriguez (Esp) Katusha, +1:22