In a close battle Spaniard Koldo Fernandez (Euskatel - Euskadi) was the fastest man of the pack.
CSC sports director Dan Frost was satisfied with his team: "We tried our best for JJ [Haedo, editor], but were beaten in
the sprint. All in all it's been a good week for us. After the victory in Almeria we took a great one here and Carlos [Sastre,
editor] and Inigo [Cuesta, editor] both did really well in the time trial. This race was the first tough job for many after
our training camp and with that in mind we're fully satisfied."
There were no changes to the classification of the short stage race and so Caisse d'Epargne's Alejandro Valverde was able
to defend his title.
Astana Cycling Team, under the guidance of team directors Alain Gallopin and Alexandr Shefer, won the team classification.
Astana had an advantage of 1:04 to Acqua e Sapone and 1:32 on Caisse d'Epargne.
Alberto Contador (Astana) finished 3rd in the GC, 6 seconds behind Alejandro Valverde and 4 seconds behind Stefano Garzelli
(Aqua & Sapone). With Toni Colom finishing 4th and Chechu Rubiera finishing 8th , the Kazakh sponsored team had another
solid performance with two other riders finishing in the top ten.
Team Director Alain Gallopin was generally satisfied about the race, but he was disappointed as well. "We proved again
that we are a strong team. We all worked for the same goal and, with Chechu Rubiera, we won the queen stage in this Tour of
Murcia. However, I am convinced that Alberto Contador could have won the time trial on Saturday, and consequently the overall
classification, if we were correctly informed about Valverde's intermediate time. It seems we were given the wrong time. Anyway,
we are motivated for the next races. There are still enough challenges this year."
Alberto Contador agreed with his team director and added: "Maybe my preparation was not ideal. After the ASO decision not
to allow us in their races, I was out a few days and my training suffered from it. Maybe there I missed the few percents that
failed me in the decisive time trial. My own fault, but the season is still long."
Raabobank's sports director Frans Maassen and his team boarded the plane back to the Netherlands on Saturday afternoon
in a prevailing mood of satisfaction. "We came here with the objective to win at least one stage, and just to see how some
of the guys are feeling. We won a stage; we played a very prominent role a couple of times and Thomas Dekker and Denis Menchov
are content with their current shape," explained Maassen, who was also very delighted to observe that four other riders had
also improved their form during the tour.
