Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador won the second stage of the 2011 Vuelta a Murcia / Tour of Murcia 2011 on Saturday to claim the leader's jersey heading into the final stage.

Riding for Team Saxo Bank-SunGard in his second competition since escaping a doping ban, Contador leads the Vuelta after its second day with an overall time of 9 hours, 13 minutes, 8 seconds after winning the 114-mile mountain stage from Murcia to Sierra Espuna.

"On the final climb, the peloton explodes into pieces and Alberto (contador) launches several attacks and shortly before the mountain top, he gets the crucial gap. He knew the descent well as we have been training there recently, so he quickly created important distance and crossed the finish line alone." Team Saxo Bank-SunGard sports director Dan Frost commented.

"Tomorrow, I predict that he has a good chance of taking the overall win as we have been studying the course and I know Alberto is happy about it", Dan Frost concluded.

French rider Jerome Capel of Saur Sojasun is 3 seconds behind Contador in the overall standings, and Russian rider Denis Menchov of Team Geox-TMC is 5 seconds off the pace of the Tour de France champion before tomorrow's decisive time trial.

The final stage Sunday is a 7.7-mile time trial.

Download Roadcycling.com's new cycling iPhone app online at http://itunes.apple.com/app/roadcycling-cycling-app/id395146493