Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) closed the Vuelta a Espana in style when he took a hugely convincing win in the final sprint on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid. Chris Horner (Radioshack) finished safely in the bunch to become the oldest ever winner of a grand tour while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took the remaining podium places.

Michael Matthews sealed his position as the dominant sprinter of the 2013 Vuelta a Espana by crusing th opposition in the final sprint in Madrid. Powering down the left-hand side of the road, the Australian easliy held off Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) and Nikias Arndt (Argos-Shimano) and so took his second stage win of the race on the famous Paseo de la Castellana.

His Orica-GreenEDGE team took control in the final and neutralized a late attack from Bartosz Huzarski but when Mitchell Docker tried to lead his sprinter out, Matthews was not on his wheel. Instead, Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg launched his lead-out of Arndt and the Dutch team appeared to have timed everything perfectly.

However, Matthews had everything under control and he opened a fierce sprint down the other side of the road. Going head to head with Farrar, he was clearly the strongest and took a hugely convincing win.

In a race that had all the characteristics of a final ceremonial stage, Chris Horner enjoyed an easy an safe ride, always surrounded by numerous teammates. He crossed the line with the main peloton and so sealed a surprising overall win in the Spanish grand tour. Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde both had similarly easy rides and got the opportunity to step onto the podium alongside the race winner.

Valverde got more podium time as he also won the points competition ahead of Horner and Joaquim Rodriguez and so repeated his 2012 win. Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) finished an aggressive race by taking the polka-dot jersey as best climber, beating Horner and Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) into the minor places.

Horner took a dominant win in the combination classification while Euskaltel said a beautiful farewell to the grand tours by winning the teams classification and the Basque team even got the honour of leading the peloton on the first lap on the Madrid circuit.

A mostly ceremonial stage

The Vuelta came to a close with a 109,6km stage that was largely ceremonial and consisted of an easy ride through the Madrid suburbs before finishing with 8 laps on a 5,7km circuit in the centre of Madrid. A sprint finish was expected while the stage presented the GC riders with an opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments.

As usual, the stage was off to a calm start and the riders just rolled at a leisurely pace in the opening part of the race. Several photos of the race's main figures were taken while the riders took the time to catch up with each other.

Radioshack take control

Radioshack took their responsibility by putting Ben Hermans and Yaroslav Popovych on the front and those two riders led the peloton in the early part of the stage. 5km from the first passage of the finish line, they decided that it was time to get the race going and so the duo upped the pace significantly as they were now joined by teammate Gregory Rast and Markel Irizar.

Just before the line, the entire Euskaltel team moved to the front to say a fitting farewell to the grand tours. The Basque team will fold at the end of the season and the peloton allowed Jorge Azanza to lead his 8 teammates across the line for the first time.

Sanchez leads the peloton across the line

The orange team remained in control on the first lap and all 9 riders - even team leader Samuel Sanchez - had stints on the front. The captain led the peloton across the line for the 2nd time and the signaled that the race could start.

Always aggressive Francisco Aramendia (Caja Rural) launched an immediate attack and quickly built up a 45-second gap as there was no reaction in the peloton. A few moments later, several sprint teams took control as Lampre-Merida, Garmin-Sharp, Argos-Shimano and Orica-GreenEDGE all put riders on the front.

Great cooperation

Luca Dodi, Diego Ulissi, Alex Howes, Caleb Fairly, Tom Stamsnijder, Tom Peterson and Christian Meier were in charge of the early pace-setting and brought the gap down to 20 seconds. Alessandro Vanotti (Astana) saw an  opportunity to bridge across and the Italian managed to do very quickly.

The two escapees worked well together to keep a stable 30-second gap for several laps while Winner Anacona, Michele Scarponi and Matteo Bono (all Lampre) all joined the original team of workers in the peloton. With a great cohesion, the sprint teams always had everything under control and there was never any danger that the sprinters would be denied.

Vanotti attacks

With 14km to go, Vanotti tried to get rid of Aramendia who was clearly not as strong as his companion but the two stayed to get and started to collaborate again. Meanwhile, Omega Pharma-Quick Step had put Pieter Serry on the front of the peloton and he was later joined by Paolo Longo Borghini from Cannondale.

When the peloton passed the line for the penultimate time, Sky took control with Vasil Kiryienka who took a huge turn on the front to close the gap to the escapees. The Belarusian stayed on the front for some time until he was overtaken by Alex Rasmussen and Johan Vansummeren (Garmin).

Huzarski tries his hand

The latter led the peloton for some time but with 3km to go, Huzarski launched his attack. Sergio Henao (Sky) tried to close it down but the tiny Colombian wasn't in his preferred terrain and it wasn't until Orica-GreenEDGE took over that the move was neutralized.

Leigh Howard, Docker and Matthews were now leading the peloton with Farrar safely positioned on Matthews' wheel. They were, however, overtaken by Argos who led the main group when they passed the flamme rouge.

Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil) tried to attack but Argos closed it down. Moments later Docker launched his lead but he had lost Matthews in the hectic finale. Instead, it was Van Rensburg that launched Arndt perfectly. However, Matthews was still well-positioned and when he opened his sprint, there was no one challenging the strong Australian who took his second win of the race while Horner sealed his overall victory.

Result:

1. Michael Matthews 2.44.00

2. Tyler Farrar

3. Nikias Arndt

4. Gianni Meersman

5. Maximilano Richeze

6. Grega Bole

7. Adrien Petit

8. Reinhardt Van Rensburg

9. Francesco Lasca

10. Robert Wagner

General classification:

1. Chris Horner 84.36.04

2. Vincenzo Nibali +0.37

3. Alejandro Valverde +1.36

4. Joaquim Rodriguez +3.22

5. Nicolas Roche +7.11

6. Domenico Pozzovivo +8.00

7. Thibaut Pinot +8.41

8. Samuel Sanchez+9.51

9. Leopold König +10.11

10. Daniel Moreno +13.11

Points classification:

1. Alejandro Valverde 152

2. Chris Horner 126

3. Joaquim Rodriguez 125

4. Nicolas Roche 122

5. Daniel Moreno 119

Mountains classification:

1. Nicolas Edet 46

2. Chris Horner 32

3. Daniele Ratto 30

4. Andre Cardoso 26

5. Vincenzo Nibali 23

Combination classification:

1. Chris Horner 5

2. Vincenzo Nibali 13

3. Alejandro Valverde 17

4. Nicolas Roche 17

5. Joaquim Rodriguez 27

Teams classification:

1. Euskaltel 253.29.35

2. Movistar +1.02

3. Astana +1.30

4. Saxo-Tinkoff +9.56

5. Caja Rural +33.48