MADRID: Colombia’s Nairo Quintana held off Tour de France champion Chris Froome to win the Vuelta a Espana in Sunday’s traditional procession around Madrid.

Quintana beat out Froome for the first time in five Grand Tours when both have finished the race by 1min 23sec with another Colombian Esteban Chaves completing the podium.

Denmark’s Magnus Cort Nielsen won the 21st stage in a sprint finish for the 104.8km ride that started in Las Rozas on the outskirts of the Spanish capital before a 10-lap circuit through the centre of Madrid.

Victory is Quintana’s second in a Grand Tour after the 2014 Giro d’Italia and was celebrated wildly by thousands of Colombian fans around the finish line.

There was also revenge for Quintana, who has twice finished second to Froome at the Tour de France and was third as the Brit sealed his third Tour title in July.

Quintana had suffered from allergies during the Tour de France, but having skipped the Olympics unlike Froome, who picked up a bronze medal in the time trial, he was the fresher rider for the gruelling three-week tour which included 10 summit finishes.

And despite finishing second in the Vuelta for the third time, Froome insisted he had still enjoyed his best ever season.

“Of course, I was here to fight for the victory, but after the season we’ve had with the Tour, Olympics and Vuelta, this has been the best season for me so far,” said Froome.

“Nairo was great this Vuelta, Team Movistar were great in the Vuelta and I have to say Chapeau to them because they really rode well and deserve the victory.”

The Movistar rider built up a near one-minute lead over Froome with win on stage 10.

However, his major move came on stage 15 when an early attack left Froome isolated as Quintana finished second on the stage to extend his lead to a huge 3min 37sec.

Froome responded by storming to a time trial win on stage 19.

Nielsen picked up his second stage win of the race by beating out Italy’s Daniele Bennati and Belgian Gianni Meersman in a time of 2hr 48min 52sec.

Published in Dawn September 13th, 2016