Freire on front in Tour of Spain

Spain's three-time world champion Oscar Freire of Rabobank won the 11th stage of the Tour of Spain on Wednesday, a 178 km ride from Calahorra to Burgos, as Egoi Martinez of Euskaltel retained the overall lead.

Martinez leads US racer Levi Leipheimer by 11 seconds and has a 32sec lead over favourite and last year's Tour de France champion Alberto Contador.

Freire just edged out Belgian Tom Boonen on the line in a sprint battle for the finish on a day when the return of retired seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to the sport was the talk of the peloton.

Freire, preparing hard for the world championships in Italy later this month, was pleased his form appears to have appeared just at the right time.

"Today was the first day I really felt good and I took advantage of that. Yesterday, I just wasn't in the groove," Freire said.