28 Jul 2008

Spain winning it all at the moment

12:41 pm on 28 July 2008

It's all going Spain's way in world sport currently.

Rafael Nadal has backed up his maiden Wimbledon win with his third Masters of the year in Toronto to go with his fourth French Open, the nation finally won the European football championships again and now Carlos Sastre has become the third successive Spaniard to win the Tour de France.

Sastre's victory follows triumphs for Oscar Pereiro in 2006 and Albert Contador last year. Contador's Astana team were not invited to this year's race because of their past doping record.

Australian Cadel Evans finished second overall on the Tour, 58 seconds behind Sastre, who effectively secured victory yesterday after resisting Evans in the decisive time-trial.

The New Zealander Julian Dean, who finished ninth in the sprint points standings, was prominent in the finish in Paris, closing out the Tour with a sixth place in the sprint along the Champs Elysee.

It was a great year for Spain on the Tour, with Oscar Freire also becoming the first Spaniard to take the green jersey for the best sprinter.

Hundreds of fans in Sastre's home town of El Barranco, 120 kilometres from Madrid, turned out to celebrate his Tour de France win.

The happy locals set off firecrackers, danced a conga and played music as they chanted slogans like 'Sastre is the best!'