Michael Matthews was the sprinter who was glad he turned up for the 2013 Vuelta

No-one else was. Two sprint finishes. Two Michael Matthews wins.

The Chris Horner post-Vuelta interview on ITV4

Was one of the most extraordinary slabs of gibberish I’ve ever heard. It was a bizarre collage of  amazings and beautifuls. UK readers can see and hear it here. The gibberishiest gibberish comes from around 39 minutes in.

The general classification

Here are the final standings, down to the sixth placed rider for a fairly obvious reason if you’ve read more than about five pages of this website.

1. Chris Horner (USA) RadioShack Leopard 84:36:04
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana +37s
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar +1m36s
4. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha +3m22s
5. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Saxo-Tinkoff +7m11s
6. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondial+8m

What next?

The Tour of Britain. It’s already started. Here’s my preview and here’s an extremely brief review of stage one.