Quintana confirms Vuelta win as Nielson claims second stage

Nairo Quintana was crowned as the winner of this year's Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race on Sunday.

The Colombian, who rides for the Spanish based Movistar team, finished the race with an advantage of 1 minute and 23 seconds over Tour de France winner, Chris Froome after defending his advantage on Saturday's last mountain stage.

He had been able to establish a lead of over three and a half minutes after he and Alberto Contador had been able to surprise Froome's sky team on the 118km 15th stage, forming a breakaway when everyone had been expecting a tranquil day's riding.

Although Froome was able to cut 2.16 off that lead in Friday's time-trial Quintana was able to defend his advantage on Saturday and with Sunday a virtual procession into Madrid with a sprint finish, he was never in danger of being caught on the last day of racing.

The 104 kilometer last stage into the capital was always going to end in a sprint finish, which was claimed by Magnus Nielson (Orica Bike Exchange), the young Dane riding in his first grand tour won his second sprint of the race ahead of Daniele Bennati and Gianni Meersman to complete an fantastic race, both for himself and his team.

While Quintana won the overall prize, Omar Fraile (Dimension Data) won the climber's jersey and Fabio Felline (Trek) took the prize for the best sprinter. Endit