Britain’s Hugh Carthy secured a podium finish at the Vuelta a Espana as Primoz Roglic won the red jersey.
Defending champion Roglic, who suffered a dramatic defeat by Tadej Pogacar in the Tour de France, retained his Vuelta title, with Richard Carapaz second.
Carthy’s surprise podium comes a fortnight after Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart won the Giro d’Italia.
Germany’s Pascal Ackermann won the bunch sprint in the largely processional final stage to Madrid.
Bora Hansgrohe’s Ackermann pipped Ireland’s Sam Bennett on the line in Madrid, bringing down the curtain on an eventful road racing season.
Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Bennett won the sprint stage of the Tour de France in Paris in September.
Third place for EF Pro Cycling’s Carthy was by far the best finish of his career at the top level.
Ineos Grenadiers’ Richard Carapaz finished 24 seconds behind Roglic after a last-ditch attack on the final mountainous stage up the Alto de la Covatilla saw him wrestle some time back.
Ireland’s Dan Martin took fourth for Israel Start Up Nation 2mins 43secs down after being in contention for much of the 18-day race, delayed by one month because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the women’s version of the Vuelta – the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta – Germany’s Lisa Brennhauer of Ceratizit-WNT won the three-day race’s general classification after Valcar’s Elisa Balsamo won the final day’s sprint into Madrid.
Britain’s Alice Barnes of Canyon-Sram finished ninth in the general classification, 52 seconds down.
More to follow.
