Bradley Wiggins held on to secure third place at the Tour of Murcia after Theo Bos sprinted to victory on the final stage in southern Spain.

Wiggins had moved into the podium places with a solid time trial performance on Saturday and finished safely in the peloton alongside overall winner Frantisek Rabon (HTC-Columbia) and second-placed Denis Menchov (Rabobank) when the race reached its conclusion.

It was Cervélo rider Bos who crossed the finish line first though in Murcia's city centre after he produced a strong sprint finish to edge Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Daniel Schorn (Team NetApp).

Breakaway attempts had come thick and fast earlier in the day and nine riders, including our very own Nicolas Portal and the 12th-placed José Herrada (Caja Rural), eventually made it clear with around 98km to go. HTC-Columbia were in no mood for any late surprises however and that attack was soon chased down.

Philip Deignan (Cervélo), Oleg Chuzdah (Caja Rural) and Alexandre Blain (Endura) were the next riders to burst free and they had built a lead of three minutes by the time they took on the category 2 climb up the Alto Cabezo de la Plata.

Menchov's podium place had looked in danger when he punctured in the final 30km, but his team-mates rallied and guided him back into the bunch.

Deignan, Chuzdah and Blain were eventually hauled back inside the final 5km and a sprint finish ensued which Bos rounded off in style.

Leading Team Sky home was Russell Downing in a hugely credible sixth. The 31-year-old had tested his sprint skills on stage one by claiming eighth position, and was in the thick of the action again with even better results on Sunday.

Elingworth impressed

Sports director Rod Elingworth was encouraged by the team's performance over the course of the week and is happy with the way Bradley Wiggins is building up his fitness ahead of what promises to be a very busy summer.

Elingworth said: "To finish on the podium is pretty good. We obviously came here to win the race, but everyone's happy.

"Bradley took the race on well and the team performed well. The lads rode for him every time he needed them to.

"He was really disappointed not to have won the time trial but most of the other main GC contenders for the Tour de France were behind him - with the obvious exception of Denis Menchov.

"In terms of where he's at though there are no problems at all. He's exactly where we want him to be."

Elingworth admitted the final stage had been a relatively undemanding one and felt Russell Downing had been unfortunate not to challenge for top honours in a hectic sprint finish.

"The lads rode well today, it was a pretty straightforward stage and Russell's sixth-placed finish was really good.

"We'd said beforehand that we'd try and set Russell up if it came to a bunch sprint, and that was what happened.

"He thought he had good legs and went for it but got a little bit pinned in on the barriers about 500 metres out and couldn't move."

Augustyn on the mend

John-Lee Augustyn was the only member of the team not to make it to the finish line after he was forced to pull out at the end of stage three with a niggling knee injury. Elingworth was quick to allay any concerns about the South African's fitness though and expects him to be back to full strength when the Volta a Catalunya commences on March 22.

"John-Lee has a bad knee it doesn't look too serious. He stopped before things got too bad and he'll get himself sorted when he flies back to Manchester on Monday."