Alberto Contador claimed the opening stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, winning the 9.7km time trial from Valsain to La Granja de San Ildefonso.

The Spaniard, whose Astana team were recently overlooked by Tour de France organisers for this year's race denying him a chance to defend the title, put in an impressive ride as he won the first stage in 11 minutes and 39 seconds.

Contador's American team-mate Levi Leipheimer, who finished third at last year's Tour but has also been excluded from this year's edition, finished second some four seconds behind.

Dutchman Thomas Dekker of the Rabobank team was third at 13 seconds with American Jason McCartney of CSC fourth, a further two seconds back, and Spaniard Samuel Sanchez of Euskaltel fifth.

Russian Tour of Spain victor Denis Menchov was ninth for Rabobank at 28 seconds behind the winning Spaniard, while German Andreas Kloeden of Astana was 12th at 30 seconds off the leading time.

Contador, who won the five-day stage race last year, will be wearing the leader's jersey when the peloton travels 141.7km from Segovia to Ávila in Tuesday's second stage.

Eurosport