Happy in arms - UCI President, Pat McQuaid greets Alberto Contador before the start of stage twenty one...

Retiring race-director, Victor Cordero, gets a cheerful send-off from the cyclists still in the Vuelta...

Cheers - Alberto Contador celebrates his win and the end of another Vuelta with Levi Leipheimer and Carlos Sastre...

Caida! In fact, a rider from the lowly Xacobea team is playing around at the side of the road...

At the back, Contador toasts his team manager, Johan Buryneel...

Contador and Valverde pull into a petrol station for a quick pit-stop...they must be thirsty!

Contador selects sin-plomo - unleaded fuel - for the rest of today's journey...

How much petrol does it take to fill Contador's drink bottle - and how much does it cost these days?!

That's it - just enough to make it home to Madrid...

Contador's hungry too - was he partying late last night?

Contador shares his bocadillo with Sergio Paulinho, whose spent most of his Vuelta fetching food and water for his leader...

Francis Mourey calls out for his teamates...

Mourey must be drunk - or is the cyclo-cross expert practicing for the new season off-road..?

Vaitkus has the same energy as Mourey, and carries out a perfect wheelie on a small hill...

Paulinho and Vaitkus are more serious now as Astana escorts the Vuelta into the centre of Madrid...

Astana leads the peloton across the finish-line with six laps to cover...

It's a free-for-all after Astana hands the stage over to the sprinters' teams...

Matti Breschel wins the final stage of the 2008 Vuelta in Madrid

The winner's podium of Contador, Leipheimer and Sastre is shared with Victor Cordero this year...