The Madrid stage put the finishing touches on the 2008 Vuelta. The honour roll of award winners is now complete. In the overall, Alberto Contador (Astaná) won the gold jersey, with Levi Leipheimer (Astaná) and Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank) finishing second and third, respectively. Caisse d’Epargne earned a very convincing victory in the overall team category. The overall points category finally went to Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto). David Moncoutie (Cofidis) was crowned King of the Mountain. And in the combined, a victory for the strongest racer in this year's Vuelta: Alberto Contador (Astaná).

Caisse d’Epargne stepped up on to the awards podium to receive the team trophy for the ´08 Vuelta, but only eight of their nine cyclists were there. Joaquín Rodríguez headed to the infirmary to have people attend to his injuries and the first examination was not very promising. He’ll have to wait and possibly have X-rays but Rodríguez received a hard blow to his collarbone and right now is very doubtful for the World Road Race Championships, where he was one of the key racers national manager Francisco Antequera was counting on.

Danish racer Matti Breschel emerged victorious in the 21st Vuelta stage, a day of racing with the start in San Sebastián de los Reyes and the finish line in Madrid. Alberto Contador had no problems in adding his first Vuelta a España triumph and the third of the great cycling races to his brilliant list of career achievements. Breschel beat out Usov and Vigano in the final sprint, with Koldo Fernández de Larrea finishing fourth. The good news was the heavy turn-out by the general public. The bad news, the two spills in the final kilometres, where Joaquín Rodríguez was among those affected. The main characters of the day were Jesús Rosendo, Emanuel Bindi and Valerio Agnoli. They tried to pull off the surprise, but the sprinter teams were not about to miss out on their opportunity.

4 of the 19 teams that took the start of the 2008 Vuelta are to finish the race with all nine riders. The Caisse d'Epargne, Xacobeo-Galicia, Ag2r and Astana teams have all been fortunate enough to maintain all their riders in the race. A further 4 teams - Silence-Lotto, Euskaltel, Andalucía and CSC – arrive at the end of the race having lost only 1 rider each. The contrary is true for the Quick Step and Gerolsteiner teams, however. Both squads are to finish the Vuelta after having lost 5 riders each, although it is true to say that Quick Step has lost the majority of its riders during the last two stages.

The Spanish sporting press focuses on the two winners of yesterday’s hill-climb: Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer. “AS” opens with a resounding: "Alberto Victor". “Marca”, in turn, has the following headline: “A stroll through Madrid to pick up the Triple Crown”. “El Mundo Deportivo" offers the following quote from the Madrid rider: "Winning the three main stage races was something that was unthinkable". “Sport” opens with: “Contador holds off Leipheimer and wins the Vuelta”.

Today’s 21st stage represents the last day of racing in this, the 63rd edition of the Vuelta a España, which has seen one of the best line-ups in the race’s history. The Vuelta signs off with the traditional final stage through the streets of Madrid, which will give the city’s inhabitants the opportunity to cheer local rider, Alberto Contador. The Astana rider took the start of the race as the main favourite for overall victory. And the Madrid rider has confirmed the initial predictions, something that is easy to do on paper but very difficult to put into practice. Nevertheless, it’s not all over quite yet. The winner of the final stage, a victory that is highly appreciated among the sprinters, is still to be decided. Today may see a change from the traditional sprint finish, given that the sprinters’ teams are extremely tired following three weeks of tough racing and several of the leading names have already dropped out. Should a break fail to make it to the finish line ahead of the main group, we are sure to see the likes of Wouter Weylandt, Matti Breschel, Koldo Fernández de Larrea, Erik Zabel and Greg Van Avermaet in the running for victory today. The Belgian Silence-Lotto rider has a special motiviation today, as he will be looking to hold on to the blue jersey awarded to the leader of the Points Classification. Van Avermaet leads Contador by 5 points and Valverde by 13 points, so he will need to keep a keen eye on both riders.