Cycling: Punctures deflate Contador hopes

A late second puncture of the day dropped Alberto Contador out of contention at the Tour of Castilla and Leon yesterday as Filippo Savini of Italy won a mountainous third stage.

It made the second time in three stages that Contador had to deal with a pair of flat tyres. The Tour de France champion was hit with his latest flat just 2km (1.25 miles) from the finish line.

Savini won the 157km (98-mile) leg in a time of 3hr 58min 25sec to edge out Bauke Mollema of Rabobank and his Colnago-CSF Inox team-mate Domenico Pozzovivo.

Contador, a three-time champion who was hoping to defend his title, finished nearly three minutes behind Savini. Mollema is the new overall leader by 3sec with an overall time of 13:17.52.