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Belgian Tom Boonen cruised to a mass sprint victory in the 16th stage of the Vuelta a Espana after a 186-km trip from Ponferrada to Zamora for his second win of the race.

Boonen, a heavy favourite to win a stage that was always anticipated to finish in a bunch sprint, gets a heavy boost heading into his campaign to reclaim the world championship title from Quick Step team-mate Paolo Bettini.

Already the winner of stage three to Cordoba, Boonen said: "A second victory so late in the race shows I've held on to my good form.

"We've had some very tough mountain stages and I had crashed just before the Pyrenees too, so I was worried about my condition. Fortunately everything is going well, one of my knees took a bashing but I'm recovering fine.

"Leaving the Tour of Spain with a second win in my pocket is the perfect way to quit. I'll do a couple of long training rides back home in Belgium and then I'll be ready for Italy."

Italy's Bettini, the two-time defending world champion, was part of the imposing train that led out the 2005 rainbow jersey.

The two men will do battle for the mantle of road race world champion in the Italian town of Varese on September 28.

Boonen, a two-time Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix winner, had come into the race amidst controversy after having been suspended from this year's Tour de France for a positive out of competition test for cocaine.

But the 27-year-old immediately demonstrated his focus at this year's Vuelta by beating Italian Daniele Bennati to victory in a stage three sprint.

When the time came, Boonen was equally impressive in stage 16.

After Bettini, Kevin Van Impe and Matteo Tosatto peeled off one-by-one in Zamora, Boonen was able to stroll to victory as he held off Italian Liquigas rider Filippo Pozzato by a half a bike's length.

The peloton rolled at a crawl for much of the stage but especially on the day's only climb, the category one Alto del Acebo which took up the first 16 kilometres of riding.

Without a single attack on the ascent, the peloton was still grouped tightly together when Andalujcía-Cajasur rider Jesus Rosendo launched an attack after 24 kilometres of riding.

Tinkoff's Walter Pedraza quickly joined him, and the two men built a lead of nine minutes before seeing the margin slowly evaporate and being caught with seven kilometres left to ride.

With Quick Step powering the peloton heading into Zamora, the stage was Boonen's to lose and he took his chance in straightforward fashion.

Gerolsteiner's Heinrich Haussler took the final spot on the podium in front of Mickael Delage and Tomas Vaitkus.

Alberto Contador retained the gold jersey heading into Wednesday's 148.2-km flat 17th stage from Zamora to Valladolid.

Stage results

1. Tom Boonen (Belgium / Quick-Step ) 5 hrs 21 mins 15 secs

2. Filippo Pozzato (Italy / Liquigas ) "

3. Heinrich Haussler (Germany / Gerolsteiner ) "

4. Mickael Delage (France / Francaise des Jeux ) "

5. Tomas Vaitkus (Lithuania / Astana ) "

6. Koldo Fernandez (Spain / Euskaltel ) "

7. Alexandre Usov (Belarus / AG2R ) "

8. Mauro Santambrogio (Italy / Lampre ) "

9. Oscar Gatto (Italy / Gerolsteiner ) "

10. Sebastien Hinault (France / Credit Agricole ) "

11. Erik Zabel (Germany / Milram ) "

12. Leonardo Duque (Colombia / Cofidis ) "

13. Pedro Horrillo (Spain / Rabobank ) "

14. Gabriel Rasch (Norway / Credit Agricole ) "

15. Jose Antonio Carrasco (Spain / Andalucia ) "

16. Pavel Brutt (Russia / Tinkoff ) "

17. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne ) "

18. Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium / Silence - Lotto ) "

19. Fabio Sabatini (Italy / Milram ) "

20. Egoi Martinez (Spain / Euskaltel ) all the same time

Overall standings

1. Alberto Contador (Spain / Astana ) 66 hrs 35 mins 4 secs

2. Levi Leipheimer (U.S. / Astana ) +1 min 17 secs

3. Carlos Sastre (Spain / Team CSC ) +3:41"

4. Ezequiel Mosquera (Spain / Xacobeo ) +4:35"

5. Robert Gesink (Netherlands / Rabobank ) +5:49"

6. Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne ) +6:00"

7. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne ) +6:11"

8. Egoi Martinez (Spain / Euskaltel ) +8:56"

9. David Moncoutie (France / Cofidis ) +9:32"

10. Oliver Zaugg (Switzerland / Gerolsteiner ) +10:01"

11. Daniel Moreno (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne ) +10:52"

12. Marzio Bruseghin (Italy / Lampre ) +10:56"

13. David Garcia (Spain / Xacobeo ) +11:47"

14. Juan Manuel Garate (Spain / Quick-Step ) +15:02"

15. Jurgen Van Goolen (Belgium / Team CSC ) +16:08"

16. David Arroyo (Spain / Caisse d'Epargne ) +19:24"

17. Nicolas Roche (Ireland / Credit Agricole ) +19:31"

18. John Gadret (France / AG2R ) +20:08"

19. Javier Moreno (Spain / Andalucia ) +22:41"

20. Sandy Casar (France / Francaise des Jeux ) +23:17"

Jeremy Stahl / Eurosport