CYCLING TOUR OF SPAIN:MATCHING STEPHEN Roche's 1993 performance in the Giro d'Italia, Philip Deignan yesterday became the first Irishman in 16 years to net a top-10 place in a Grand Tour.

The Letterkenny rider finished a superb ninth in the Vuelta a España in Madrid, completing the three-week race in a time 11 minutes and eight seconds off that of the victorious Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne).

Deignan set two important marks in the race. Aside from that general classification performance, he also became the first Irish Grand Tour stage victor in 17 years when he won into Avila on Thursday.

“Today’s stage to Madrid was nice,” he said. “It was a good way to finish off the race. It has been a long, hard three weeks and it just is a big release to get it over with, and to get those great results.

“I did more than I ever thought would have been possible in the Tour of Spain – it is brilliant, I’m really happy.”

As expected, yesterday’s stage finished in a bunch gallop and was won by the German André Greipel (Columbia HTC), ahead of Daniele Bennati (Liquigas). In netting his fourth stage victory of the race, Greipel also sealed a dominant win in the points classification.

Deignan rolled across the line in 39th place, savouring the atmosphere generated by the huge numbers of passionate Spanish spectators, but his overall finishing position was determined by a solid ride in Saturday’s time trial.

He finished 40th in that test, fending off the efforts of the Spaniard Juan Jose Cobo (Fuji Servetto) to overtake him in the general classification.

“I had to go really deep,” said Deignan (26), afterwards. “After three weeks of racing that hurt a lot, so I’m glad it worked out fine.”

Compatriot Dan Martin was two places better in the race against the clock and then coasted in 106th yesterday. He ended his first Grand Tour in 53rd place overall, a solid ride for a 23-year-old second-year professional.

“It was much harder than I thought,” he said. “But I think it will make me a lot stronger next season, and also gives me confidence that I can get through races this long.”

Roche told The Irish Times he was impressed by what Deignan had achieved. “I am delighted that he has done it,” he said. “Philip is the kind of guy that I believed in right from the word go, when he was racing as a junior with Nicolas. It was frustrating to see a guy with such talent not getting the results.

“He has been a very discrete guy . . . maybe not someone who was lacking ambition, but someone who was very unlucky. I think it is great to see him get a top-10 placing and win a stage in the Vuelta. I just hope it will be a kick-start to the second part of his career, which will be more dominant and more ambitious than his first part. He definitely has the class and talent.”

Deignan, Martin, and Roche’s son Nicolas will represent Ireland in the World Road Race championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, next Sunday. Roche junior was 17th and 25th on the final stages of the Tour of Britain, which finished on Saturday.

TOUR OF SPAIN FINAL POSITIONS

Stage 21 (Rivas to Madrid, 110.2km)

1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Columbia-HTC 3hrs 11mins 55secs, 2 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas, 3 Borut Bozic (Slo) Vacansoleil, 4 Leonardo Duque (Col) Cofidis, 5 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, 6 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Lampre-NGC, 7 Gregory Henderson (Nzl) Columbia-HTC, 8 Roger Hammond (Bri) Cervelo TestTeam, 9 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank, 10 Paul Voss (Ger) Milram, 11 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Silence-Lotto, 12 Inaki Isasi (Spn) Euskaltel-Euskadi, 13 Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Silence-Lotto, 14 Daniel Moreno (Spn) Caisse d’Epargne, 15 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quick Step all at same time. Other: 39 Philip Deignan (Ire) Cervélo TestTeam at 10 secs; 106 Daniel Martin (Ire) Garmin-Slipstream at 30 secs.

Final general classification

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spn) Caisse d’Epargne 87hrs 22mins 37secs, 2 Samuel Sanchez (Spn) Euskaltel-Euskadi at 0.55, 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto at 1.32, 4 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas at 2.12, 5 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spn) Xacobeo Galicia at 4.27, 6 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank at 6.40, 7 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spn) Caisse d’Epargne at 9.08, 8 Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Lampre-NGC at 9.11, 9 Philip Deignan (Ire) Cervelo TestTeam at 11.08, 10 Juan Jose Cobo (Spn) Fuji-Servetto at 11.27, 11 Daniel Moreno (Spn) Caisse d’Epargne at 14.24, 12 Johnny Hoogerland (Ned) Vacansoleil at 15.08, 13 Daniel Navarro (Spn) Astana at 15.10, 14 Haimar Zubeldia (Spn) Astana at 17.15, 15 Manuel Vaquez (Spn) Contentpolis-Ampo at 18.41. Other: 53 Daniel Martin (Ire) Garmin-Slipstream at 1:26:13.

Points: 1 André Greipel (Ger) Columbia-HTC 150 pts, 2 Alejandro Valverde (Spn) Caisse dEpargne 111, 3 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas 101.

Mountains: 1 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis 186 pts, 2 David De La Fuente (Spn) Fuji-Servetto 99, 3 Julián Sánchez (Spn) Contentpolis-Ampo 73.