Contador eyes Spain's first treble on home soil

By Alasdair Fotheringham

GRANADA, Spain (Reuters) - Albert Contador sets out on Saturday aiming to become the first Spaniard to win cycling's three major stage races when he attempts to add the Tour of Spain to his Tour de France and Giro d'Italia titles.

The 2007 Tour de France champion can join Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Italian Felice Gimondi and Belgian Eddy Merckx as the only riders to have clinched all three.

The 25-year-old from Madrid missed out on defending his Tour title this year after his team, Astana, were barred from starting because of doping scandals in 2007.

Since beginning racing for the team earlier this year, Contador won the Giro and also finished second in his most recent event, last weekend's Vuelta a los Puertos.

His biggest challenger is likely to be compatriot Carlos Sastre, who went on to win this year's Tour de France after taking a solo win on the infamous Alpe D'Huez climb.

The first Tour winner to compete in the Tour of Spain in the same year since Pedro Delgado in 1989, Sastre finished second overall in his home race last year.

With last year's champion Denis Menchov of Russia not participating, other challenges are likely to come from Italian Damiano Cunego and Spain's Alejandro Valverde, runner-up in 2006.

The 3,133km-long tour has two tough days in the Pyrenees on stages seven and eight before approaching its toughest climb, the 12.5km Angliuru mountain-top finish on stage 13, being tackled for only the fourth time during the race.

The Tour of Spain finishes stars in Granada on Saturday and finishes in Madrid on September 21.

(Editing by Padraic Halpin)