Alejandro Valverde won the Tour of the Basque Country ©Getty Images

In form Spaniard Alejandro Valverde won his first Tour of the Basque Country today after finishing second in the deciding time trial in Eibar.

It continued a superb start to the year which has also included victory at last month's Tour of Catalonia.

The Movistar rider was one of five riders all on the same leading time at the beginning of the day but was always likely to prove the best in the time trial format.

His fellow countryman Alberto Contador, starting three seconds back, appeared his greatest challenger.

Valverde ultimately finished second over the 27 kilometres distance behind Slovenia's LottoNL-Jumbo rider Primož Roglič.

Alberto Contador finished in second place overall ©Getty Images
Alberto Contador finished in second place overall ©Getty Images

Roglič finished in 35min 58sec to beat Valverde by nine seconds.

Contador finished 23 seconds behind the winner in fourth place.

This meant the Trek-Segafredo star had to settle for second in the overall stakes, 17 seconds behind.

Spaniard Jon Isagirre finished third on the day, eight seconds in front of Contador, to also complete the home 1-2-3 in the overall standings.

Roglič placed fifth overall.

Valverde, who returned from a two-year doping ban in 2012 after being implicated in the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal, will be hoping to continue his superb form at events including the Tour de France.