Sergio Henao wrapped up second place for Team Sky at the Vuelta a Burgos by climbing to second spot on a torturous final stage.

The Colombian was paced up the Lagunas de Neila by team-mate Rigoberto Urán and then pressed on with compatriot Esteban Chaves (Colombia) over the final 4.5km of the brutal hors-categorie ascent.

The duo remained clear at the summit, with Chaves crossing the line just ahead of Henao to take the stage win.

Igor Antón (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was the next rider home, 10 seconds back, and Daniel Moreno's fourth-placed finish a further 12 seconds adrift saw the Katusha rider take the overall victory with a 10-second margin over the impressive Henao.

Team Sky were active from the off once again with Juan Antonio Flecha moving clear and taking the first intermediate sprint points before Ian Stannard made it into a five-man break on the first of seven categorised climbs.

The quintet, which also included Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), Sergio Pardilla (Movistar), Jérémie Galland (Saur – Sojasun) and Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE) saw their advantage grow to over four minutes before Katusha, Rabobank and Euskaltel joined forces behind.

Stannard was the first rider over the Alto del Cargadero, but dropped back to help his team-mates as Pantano and Pardilla moved clear on the first-category Alto de Pasil de Rozavientos.

That duo were hauled back as they began the final climb of the day, and the pace that Urán set on those early slopes thinned out the field dramatically before he peeled off and let Henao race clear.

Only Chaves had enough left in the tank to bridge over and the pair worked together excellently before Chaves edged ahead for his first victory of the season at the line.

Ljungqvist impressed

Back on the team bus, Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist was pleased with the efforts his riders had shown and believes it bodes well for bigger races to come.

He told us: “For a moment there we thought Sergio had won it because the race radio was telling us he was 38 seconds ahead of Moreno, but unfortunately that information proved to be false. Even so, it is a great result for Sergio and he can be proud of himself.

“He did most of the work in those last kilometres and just didn’t have anything left to challenge Chaves at the end. I was really happy with the team’s performance as a whole today after the disappointment of yesterday.

“As well as Flecha, Danny [Pate] also got into a move early on and he deserves special praise for his efforts today. He hadn’t raced in a while before this but his condition has improved markedly over the last week and he’s looking really good for the races to come.

“The same goes for Sergio and Rigoberto - they were definitely two of the strongest climbers here and that’s really encouraging to see.

“It was nice to finish on a high. It’s been good training for everyone involved and the weather, apart from today, has been fantastic.”