A fantastic week for Lawson Craddock ended with the American sitting ninth in the overall standings at the Tour of the Basque Country. Craddock was not among the very top finishers in the ten-mile time trial on Saturday but despite finishing 1:58 back in 25th his strong first five days meant he stayed in the top 10. It was an exciting finish for the overall title as well as Alberto Contador of Spain finished 18 seconds ahead of Sergio Luis Henao of Colombia passing him to win the title by 12 seconds.

The 160-man starting field was narrowed to just 97 by the end. Four other Americans finished the event, Peter Stetina in 78th, Joey Rosskpof in 81st, Alex Howes in 91st, and Caleb Fairly in 97th.

Craddock will not be in the field tomorrow as the one-day Paris-Roubaix takes place. This race over 160 miles features 32.8 miles of cobblestone roads. I’m sure that’s as awful to ride on as it sounds like it would be. Americans in the 248-man field are Taylor Phinney, Tyler Farrar, and Phillip Gaimon.