Anton wins 19th stage, Cobo keeps red jersey

Basque rider Igor Anton of Euskaltel won the 19th stage of the Tour of Spain on Friday, a 158.5km ride from Noja to Bilbao in his native Basque country, as Juan Jose Cobo of Geox retained the overall leader's red jersey. Anton had been tipped as a leading contender in the general classification before the start of this year's race, but while overall victory is now out of the question for the 28-year-old, this win will offer considerable consolation. The day's stage passed through Anton's home-town of Galdakao as the Vuelta returned to the Basque Country -- Spain's cycling heartland -- for the first time in 33 years. Anton escaped early along with teammate Gorka Verdugo, Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Dyachenko and Italian rider Marzio Bruseghin of the Movistar team. His success was built around an impressive attack on the second climb of El Vivero as much of the rest of the field struggled in suffocating heat.After pulling clear on his own, Anton crossed the line 41 seconds clear of Bruseghin and 1min 30sec ahead of Liquigas rider Dominik Nerz, of Germany. "To win here, in front of my family, my friends and all of Euskaltel's followers on the day the Vuelta returned to the Basque Country after 33 years is something I could not have imagined," said Anton afterwards. "I knew that I had improved after the first week, when I was not at my best, but I honestly didn't think I could win. "I was nervous throughout the stage because for days my friends had been saying: "We have painted your name all the way up El Vivero," so when I broke away, I thought of them, of all the hope that they had placed in me, and that really spurred me on." As well as being an emotional day for Anton, the victory was an important one for his team, with the Basque outfit Euskaltel celebrating their first win on this year's Vuelta. In the battle for the red jersey, Britain's Chris Froome of Team Sky tried unsuccessfully to break away from Cobo on the second climb of El Vivero in an attempt to eat into the Spaniard's overall lead. There are no changes atop the general classification, with Cobo still 13 seconds clear of Froome. Saturday's 20th and penultimate stage will be 185 kilometres from Bilbao -- the Basque Country's largest city -- to the Basque capital of Vitoria, and is likely to be Froome's last chance to snatch the red jersey from Cobo.