Alberto Contador took his 5th victory of the season by winning the 3rd and Queen stage of the Vuelta a Pais Vasco - or the Tour of the Basque Country with two climbs of the Alto de Ixua and finish in the Santuario de Arrate. Contador took the yellow leader’s jersey as well. His teammates worked hard during the whole stage to take back an early breakaway. Piloted by Chris Horner, Contador attacked at 5 K from the finish. Cadel Evans, Toni Colom and Damiano Cunego tried to resist but had to let go the winner of last year’s Tour of the Basque Country. Former leader and Paris-Nice winner  Luis León Sánchez lost 36 seconds.

“For me it is an honor to win here in Arrate,” said Contador. “Arrate is famous in cycling. Here only strong riders can win. I wanted to take as many seconds as possible to have some advantage for the final time trial on Saturday. The differences are minimal, but every second counts. The race is still very open. My teammates worked so hard today, I did not want to disappoint  them. Be sure that I will try to win the overall classification. This is my last race before a mid-season break. I still want to show some nice things this week.”