Cycling:Philip Deignan held on to ninth spot in the overall standings at the Vuelta a Espana despite coming home in 40th spot in today's penultimate stage, a 28-kilometre individual time-trial in Toledo.
The Donegal cyclist was two minutes and seven seconds behind Britain’s David Millar, who took the stage in a time of 35 minutes and 53 seconds, five seconds clear of second-placed Samuel Sanchez and nine seconds in front of Cadel Evans in third.
Sanchez started the day as Alejandro Valverde’s nearest challenger at the top of the leaderboard but needed to make up a gap of one minute and 26 seconds on the gold jersey wearer.
The Euskaltel-Euskadi rider tried his best, finishing 31 seconds ahead of his fellow Spaniard on the day, but it was not enough to seriously threaten the 29-year-old Caisse D’Epargne rider, who himself finished seventh and should be crowned Vuelta champion in Madrid tomorrow.
Valverde boasts a 55-second lead over Sanchez heading into the final day, while Australian Evans could now join them on the podium having moved into third spot after turning a 14-second deficit to Italian Ivan Basso into a 40-second advantage after his ride today.