Crédit Agricole couldn’t imagine a better going away present than a stage victory Tuesday in the 63rd Vuelta a España in what’s its swansong grand tour.

The long-standing French team — set to fold at the end of the 2008 season after a new sponsor couldn’t be found to replace the departing French bank — earned a rare bunch sprint victory with French veteran Sébastien Hinault.

Hinault, 34, led six riders across the line within a bike length of each other, including Oscar Freire (Rabobank) in fourth and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) in fifth, but it was unsung Hinault who out-kicked the stars to win for the 12th time of his career.

Vuelta '08, stage 10: The cross wind kept the peloton on its toes.

Photo: Graham Watson

Hinault — no relation to the more-famous Bernard — held on for a long sprint up the right side of the road to win after the late-attacking Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) was caught 150m short of the line in a wild and wide-open flight into Zaragoza.

Fellow Frenchman Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r-La Mondiale) came across second while Monday’s winner, Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) was third to claim the points jersey.

“This is the biggest win of my career and it comes at a good time,” said Hinault, who won the Tour de Limousin this year. “When Pozzato attacked, he broke up the rhythm of the favorites. I got on the wheel of Van Avermaet and I was able to come around him to win. I’m over the moon!”

The veteran Hinault — who’s raced only on Crédit Agricole since he turned pro in 1997 — couldn’t have picked a better time for what he proudly called the biggest win of his career.

The team’s imminent demise marks the end of a continuation that dates back to the late 1980s, first with Z-Peugeot, where Greg LeMond won his final Tour in 1990. The team then morphed into GAN before Crédit Agricole took over in 1998.

“It’s sad for the team to end like this. It’s been a great team and we’ve always fought well in every race we go to,” he said. “Everyone came here very motivated to make a good race and post some results. Winning a stage is just perfect.”

Vuelta '08, stage 10: Martinez said his first day in the lead was stressfull.

Photo: Graham Watson

Egoi Martínez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) finished safely in the pack to retain the leader’s jersey, but he said he couldn’t truly enjoy his first day in the Vuelta’s golden jersey until he crossed the line.

“We always know there’s wind coming into Zaragoza, so it was a day with a lot of tension. Thankfully, neither Sastre or Contador wanted to try anything with the wind today, so we didn’t have to worry about that,” Martínez said. “Now I can enjoy the jersey a little bit. It was a great feeling to be in the jersey all day. It was like a dream on the bike today.”

Levi Leipheimer (Astana) rode in with the pack to remain second at 11 seconds back.

On Monday, Martínez took the jersey away from Leipheimer to become the seventh rider to wear the Vuelta’s leader’s jersey, tying a record set in 1964.

With the second half of the Vuelta still to come, that record’s sure to be broken, with Alberto Contador (Astana) the hand’s down favorite to at least be wearing it when the Vuelta ends Sept. 21 in Madrid.

Vuelta '08, stage 10: Bettini pitches in.

Photo: Graham Watson

For the favorites, a string of early attacks and potentially dangerous crosswinds in the wide-open Ebro Valley livened up the transition stage out of the Pyrénées.

“Today was nervous with a lot of wind, far from tranquilo. It might have looked calm on TV, but it’s not like that at all. There were all up and down and a strong breeze,” said Contador, who remains third overall. “I am feeling good, the team is going well, and I am feeling very well-protected, so let’s hope I can feel good going into the final week when it counts.”

Breaking the wind

Euskaltel-Euskadi opened up the day intent to chase down any dangerous breakaways and keep the jersey, its first in a grand tour in the team’s history.

The opening half hour was action-packed, with dozens of riders firing away, trying to break the chain. Among the challenges, Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Yaroslav Popovych (Silence-Lotto) and Mikhail Ignatiev (Tinkoff) were among the most active.

Euskaltel and Cofidis helped chase down the moves ahead of the day’s lone climb, the Cat. 2 Monrepós climb in the opening 35km. Juanme Garate (Quick Step) was first over the top, but David Moncoutie (Cofidis) was second, enough to safely keep him in the Vuelta’s best climbing jersey.

On the long downhill, Matej Jurco (Milram) drove off the nose of the regrouping peloton and, despite the earlier flurry of failed attacks, no one followed.

With his left cheek covered in a white bandage from an earlier crash, the Slovakian drove alone to build up an eight-minute lead with 80km to go.

At 18km, with the peloton breathing down Jurco’s neck, David José Gil (Andalucia-CajaSur) — who went on a similar suicide breakaway in stage 4 to Puertollano — bridged across.

Vuelta '08, stage 10: Lopez Gil joined Jurco in the final kilometers.

Photo: Graham Watson

With 15km to go, the gap was down to 20 seconds and the sprinter teams seemingly had things completely in control.

But that didn’t stop another flurry of breakaway attempts, including runs by Nick Nuyens (Cofidis) and scores of others, but Rabobank and Quick Step kept snuffing out the adventures.

Pozzato attacked under the 1km kite and that threw the sprinters off balance. The Vuelta’s first race leader hit the final sweeping lefthander with 400 meters to go nursing a short gap, but he was caught with about 150 meters to go.

Hinault bolted off Van Avermaet’s wheel and rode away with a fairytale victory for the French team.

Wednesday’s stage

The 63rd Vuelta continues Wednesday with the 178km 11th stage from Calahorra to Burgos. The rolling stage features just one rated climb — with the Cat. 3 Alto de Valmala at 141km — and should provide the sprinters with a good shot before hitting the nasty climbs looming in Asturias this weekend.

Burgos — known for it spectacular Gothic cathedral perched along the edge of Spain’s northern meseta — has been host of Vuelta stages dozens of times.

The last time the Vuelta finished in Burgos, it was from the northern approach with Egoi Martínez winning in a solo breakaway while riding for Discovery Channel.