It’s been a good final few days of the Vuelta a España for the Caisse D'Epárgne team. After the stage wins by Imanol Erviti and David Arroyo the previous two days, Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodríguez both moved up one spot in the overall rankings thanks to their strong time trials at Navacerrada Saturday. Valverde will finish fifth and also picked up a stage win. Even so, his mind is already on the upcoming World Championships in Varese: “I showed that I continue to ride well. These stages are great training sessions. Since Bettini left, I hardly raced a single stage. Today was only 17 kilometres long and the weather was good. At the World Championships, watch out. You can’t try and take on too much. The leader is Freire and I also have a lot of freedom”. His teammate Joaquim Rodríguez had regrets about the breakaway cut off by Astaná the day before yesterday, a breakaway that could have put him up on the final awards podium: “Yesterday I was hoping to dream about being on the podium, but they wouldn’t let me. The warning alarms went off in Astana. Valverde is like a motorbike, we hope the World Championships aren't difficult for him and that he can be in good form for competing there”.

Alberto Contador has for all practical purposes wrapped up the overall victory of the Vuelta a España. The Madrid native will complete a historic triple triumph, becoming only the fifth racer to win the three great races by stages. He joins a very select club made up of only Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Felice Gimondi and Bernard Hinault. He will accomplish all that at 25 years old and with the greater part of his racing career still ahead of him. “I didn’t want to think about it until now because it would have put more pressure on me. Now I can begin to add things up", Contador said immediately after finishing the stage. For the Astaná racer, the Vuelta victory was particularly sweet: The idea was to hold on to the leadership. My teammate was extremely strong and that will make the victory even better". Contador, who is still set to compete in the World Championships in Varese, doesn't want to lose his focus with one day of racing left. Even so, the idea now is to “rest and enjoy this moment”.

U.S. racer Levi Leipheimer picked up his second stage triumph of this Vuelta today. The Astaná rider recorded the best time at all the intermediate points and took the second time trial of the race in totally dominant fashion, beating both his teammate Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde by 31 seconds. The other big winner of the day was the gold jersey, Alberto Contador. The Astaná leader has the overall all but wrapped up, with only a final stage through the streets of Madrid left. The Astaná duo will be joined on the podium by Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre. The CSC leader shrugged off all the controversy of the past few days and protected his third place ranking convincingly. Ezequiel Mosquera also ran a good time trial, recording the sixth fastest time but he will still have to settle for fourth place in the overall category.

David Arroyo’s victory in Segovia is the focus of the sports sections in today’s Spanish press. “EL Mundo” highlights the intense activity of the Caisse d’Epargne team throughout the day’s stage, opening with: "Arroyo takes advantage of Caisse D´Epárgne’s strategy". The article goes on to describe how the Spanish rider outwitted Byelorussian Vasili Kiryienka to win the stage. “El Pais” does not hesitate to praise the Tinkoff rider, the driving force behind the day's successful break. The Madrid-based publication opens its cycling section with an article titled “One against the rest”, in allusion to Kiryienka’s solitary efforts during the final part of the stage. “La Razón”, however, prefers to centre on the stage winner, opening with: “Arroyo takes over from Valverde”, in reference to the Toledo rider winning a stage that his team had prepared for Valverde. Lastly, “ABC” centres on today’s hill-climb and the role of the race leader in an article titled: "Navacerrada crowns Contador’s 15 golden months".

Kazakh Dmitriy Muravyev will be the first rider to take the start of today’s 17.1 km time-trial, to be held between La Granja de San Ildefonso and El Alto de Navacerrada. The Astana rider, last overall in the GC, will set off at 14.45 h. The remaining riders will leave at one-minute intervals, with the exception of the last twenty riders, who will set off at intervals of two minutes. The first of the riders with any real chances of taking the stage is German Andreas Kloden, who will start at 16.35 h. Italian Marzio Bruseghin, who is finishing the Vuelta in good form and who has a chance to secure a place in the top ten of the GC, sets off at 16:52 h. The riders currently ranked in the top ten are to start at the following times: Oliver Zaugg (16.56 h.), David Moncoutié (16.58 h.), Egoi Martínez (17.00 h.), Joaquim Rodríguez (17.02 h.), Alejandro Valverde (17.04 h.), Robert Gesink (17.06 h.), Ezequiel Mosquera (17.08 h.), Carlos Sastre (17.10 h.), Levi Leipheimer (17.12 h.) and Alberto Contador (17.14 h.) Start times of individual time-trial.

Those riders wishing to improve their standing in the GC have their last opportunity in today’s hill-climb. Today’s course covers some 17 kilometres, 7 of which are uphill, between La Granja and El Alto de Navacerrada. Neither Contador nor Leipheimer will have problems to hold on to their placings, saving misfortune, leaving the day’s excitement centred on the battle for 3rd place on the final podium. Carlos Sastre and Ezequiel Mosquera are separated by a mere 54 seconds, with Sastre having the advantage of competing on a course that he is perfectly familiar with. The Galician, however, will be boosted by his having dropped Sastre on the climb of Fuentes de Invierno. The Xacobeo - Galicia rider, who is facing his first opportunity to win a place on the podium of a major three-week stage race, is sure to give it his all today. The battle for stage victory may well be fought out between the two most regular cyclists in this year’s race, both of whom ride for the Astana team: Alberto Contador, who is sure to receive the backing of the public, and the North American Levi Leipheimer, an expert in time-trials who beat Contador for the bronze medal in the recent Peking Olympics.