Overall victory for Spaniard, who admits he’s surprised to be going so well
Continuing what is a dominant run of form, Alejandro Valverde today clocked up his fourth win of the season despite only racing a handful of days thus far in 2013.
The Spaniard successfully defended his overall title in the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol, securing the final victory by grabbing his second stage win in this year’s edition.
Valverde outsprinted a select group of riders at the end of the mountainous 182.7 kilometre stage to Rincon de la Victoria, beating Simon Spilak (Katusha), Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice), Bauke Mollema (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) and eight others to the line.
He had previously taken the opening prologue and thus led the race from start to finish. “Honestly, we couldn’t have ended this race in a better way,” he said afterwards. It all went a bit like planned in the morning, when we always had the idea of letting a break go and having the other teams pulling at the front of the bunch. It went that way, and at the final climb, the pace by Nairo made impossible that anyone could jump away.
“We all barely could follow him at that speed. In the finale, everyone was thinking of the stage win rather than the GC. The last turn was only 250 meters from the finish and I came in fourth place, maybe a bit too far, but I had good legs and could get to the top and win.”
Closest rival Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) had started the day seven seconds back and couldn’t make any inroads at all into reducing his deficit. He rolled in sixth on the stage and finished second overall, with Mollema and Spilak third and fourth.
In addition to his two stage wins plus his overall success, Valverde also clocked up victory in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana on February 5th. Given that he’s only raced seven days in 2013, that represents a win ratio of over fifty percent.
He’s understandably pleased, but also a little confused. “I think that this is my best ever start for a season, and I’m the first one who is surprised about that,” he said, thanking his Movistar team-mates for their help. “I cannot say I’m not well, because you can’t win in bad form, but I wasn’t expecting to do so well here.
“I’m lucky to live in Murcia and enjoy the good weather, so I can build a strong training base day by day and that makes gaining fitness easier. But the big goals are still far away and our plan is not to race too many races at this time of the year.”
Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol (2.1)
Stage three, Lucena to Rincon de la Victoria:
1, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) 182.7 kilometres in 4 hours 45 mins 28 secs
2, Simon Spilak (Katusha)
3, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
4, Bauke Mollema (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
5, Sander Armee (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
6, Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol)
7, Bart De Clercq (Lotto Belisol)
8, Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Movistar Team)
9, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team)
10, Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
11, Daniel Navarro Garcia (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
12, Robert Gesink (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
13, Javier Moreno Bazan (Movistar Team) at 10 secs
14, Igor Anton Hernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
15, Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
16, Simon Geschke (Team Argos-Shimano) at 53 secs
17, Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
18, David Belda Garcia (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
19, Mikel Landa Meana (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 1 min 39 secs
20, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 47 secs
21, Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Katusha)
22, Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana Pro Team)
23, Juan Manuel Garate (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 2 mins 7 secs
24, Guillaume Levarlet (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 2 mins 11 secs
25, Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol)
26, Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
27, Steve Bekaert (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 3 mins 7 secs
28, Tristan Valentin (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
29, Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
30, Iker Camano Ortuzar (Team NetApp-Endura)
31, Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp-Endura)
32, Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team)
33, Ruben Plaza Molina (Movistar Team)
34, Grega Bole (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
35, Xavier Florencio Cabre (Katusha)
36, Janez Brajkovic (Astana Pro Team)
37, Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
38, Jerome Coppel (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 3 mins 12 secs
39, Yannick Talabardon (Sojasun) at 4 mins 18 secs
40, Nicolas Edet (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 5 mins 57 secs
41, Maurits Lammertink (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
42, Tom Dumoulin (Team Argos-Shimano)
43, Leopold Konig (Team NetApp-Endura) at 7 mins 29 secs
44, Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura)
45, Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 8 mins 3 secs
46, Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Belisol)
47, Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 8 mins 4 secs
48, Francis De Greef (Lotto Belisol)
49, Jean-Lou Paiani (Sojasun) at 8 mins 6 secs
50, Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto Belisol)
51, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural)
52, Moises Duenas Nevado (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
53, Yury Trofimov (Katusha)
54, Johannes Fröhlinger (Team Argos-Shimano)
55, José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Movistar Team)
56, Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
57, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Argos-Shimano)
58, Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural)
59, David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team NetApp-Endura)
60, David Tanner (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 9 mins 36 secs
61, Stef Clement (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
62, Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team)
63, Clément Lhotellerie (Colba-Superano Ham) at 9 mins 57 secs
64, Johan Van Summeren (Garmin-Sharp) at 12 mins 14 secs
65, Ioannis Tamouridis (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
66, Robert Hunter (Garmin-Sharp)
67, Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
68, Luis Mas Bonet (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
69, Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team)
70, Stefan Van Dijk (Accent Jobs-Wanty)
71, Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team)
72, Pablo Torres Muino (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
73, Sébastien Rosseler (Garmin-Sharp)
74, Darío Hernández (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
75, Jurgen Van Goolen (Accent Jobs-Wanty)
76, Daniel Schorn (Team NetApp-Endura)
77, Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp)
78, Jan Barta (Team NetApp-Endura)
79, Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
80, Jesus Del Pino Corrochano (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 12 mins 19 secs
81, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha)
82, Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural)
83, Luca Paolini (Katusha)
84, Maxim Belkov (Katusha)
85, Enrico Gasparotto (Astana Pro Team)
86, Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team)
87, Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural)
88, Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
89, Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Sharp)
90, Maxime Mederel (Sojasun)
91, Cyril Bessy (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
92, Andreas Klier (Garmin-Sharp)
93, Jaroslaw Marycz (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
94, Patrick Gretsch (Team Argos-Shimano)
95, Yelko Gomez (Caja Rural) at 13 mins 45 secs
96, Andy Cappelle (Accent Jobs-Wanty) at 18 mins 15 secs
97, Jack Bobridge (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
98, Mark Renshaw (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
99, Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
100, Will Routley (Accent Jobs-Wanty)
101, Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
102, Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
103, Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
104, Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise)
105, Adrian Kurek (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
106, Jonas Ahlstrand (Team Argos-Shimano)
107, Cheng Ji (Team Argos-Shimano)
108, Joost Van Leijen (Lotto Belisol)
Final overall classification:
1, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) 13 hours 47 mins 27 secs
2, Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) at 7 secs
3, Bauke Mollema (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 11 secs
4, Simon Spilak (Katusha) at 12 secs
5, Bart De Clercq (Lotto Belisol) at 17 secs
6, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) at 19 secs
7, Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Movistar Team) at 24 secs
8, Sander Armee (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 30 secs
9, Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
10, Daniel Navarro Garcia (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 38 secs
11, Javier Moreno Bazan (Movistar Team) at 41 secs
12, Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 53 secs
13, Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) at 1 min 18 secs
14, Robert Gesink (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 1 min 31 secs
15, Jon Izaguirre Insausti (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 1 min 45 secs
16, David Belda Garcia (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 1 min 58 secs
17, Igor Anton Hernandez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 2 mins 20 secs
18, Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 2 mins 33 secs
19, Simon Geschke (Team Argos-Shimano) at 2 mins 43 secs
20, Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana Pro Team) at 2 mins 48 secs
21, Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 3 mins 30 secs
22, Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Katusha) at 3 mins 33 secs
23, Mikel Landa Meana (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 3 mins 46 secs
24, Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol) at 4 mins 10 secs
25, Guillaume Levarlet (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 4 mins 29 secs
26, Janez Brajkovic (Astana Pro Team) at 4 mins 42 secs
27, Grega Bole (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 4 mins 59 secs
28, Ruben Plaza Molina (Movistar Team) at 5 mins 11 secs
29, Tristan Valentin (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 5 mins 17 secs
30, Jerome Coppel (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 5 mins 22 secs
31, Yannick Talabardon (Sojasun) at 6 mins 18 secs
32, Nicolas Edet (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 9 mins 28 secs
33, Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto Belisol) at 9 mins 44 secs
34, Iker Camano Ortuzar (Team NetApp-Endura) at 9 mins 55 secs
35, Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 10 mins 4 secs
36, Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Belisol) at 10 mins 19 secs
37, Francis De Greef (Lotto Belisol) at 10 mins 26 secs
38, Cesare Benedetti (Team NetApp-Endura) at 10 mins 27 secs
39, David De La Cruz Melgarejo (Team NetApp-Endura)
40, Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 13 mins 8 secs
41, Simone Ponzi (Astana Pro Team) at 13 mins 25 secs
42, Steve Bekaert (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 13 mins 57 secs
43, Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team) at 14 mins 33 secs
44, Juan Manuel Garate (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 14 mins 38 secs
45, Xavier Florencio Cabre (Katusha) at 14 mins 40 secs
46, Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 14 mins 43 secs
47, Bartosz Huzarski (Team NetApp-Endura) at 15 mins 35 secs
48, Tom Dumoulin (Team Argos-Shimano) at 17 mins 21 secs
49, Marcos Garcia (Caja Rural) at 18 mins 28 secs
50, Jan Barta (Team NetApp-Endura) at 18 mins 52 secs
51, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg (Team Argos-Shimano) at 19 mins 33 secs
52, Jean-Lou Paiani (Sojasun) at 19 mins 46 secs
53, Yury Trofimov (Katusha) at 19 mins 53 secs
54, Moises Duenas Nevado (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 20 mins 20 secs
55, Leopold Konig (Team NetApp-Endura) at 20 mins 45 secs
56, Johannes Fröhlinger (Team Argos-Shimano) at 20 mins 51 secs
57, Karol Domagalski (Caja Rural) at 21 mins 26 secs
58, David Tanner (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 22 mins 1 secs
59, Cyril Bessy (Cofidis, Solutions Credits) at 22 mins 23 secs
60, Stef Clement (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 23 mins 19 secs
61, Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) at 23 mins 26 secs
62, Clément Lhotellerie (Colba-Superano Ham) at 23 mins 34 secs
63, Andreas Klier (Garmin-Sharp) at 23 mins 54 secs
64, Ioannis Tamouridis (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 24 mins 19 secs
65, Maxim Belkov (Katusha) at 24 mins 22 secs
66, Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Astana Pro Team) at 24 mins 24 secs
67, Robert Hunter (Garmin-Sharp) at 24 mins 43 secs
68, Maxime Mederel (Sojasun) at 24 mins 53 secs
69, Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 24 mins 56 secs
70, Enrico Gasparotto (Astana Pro Team) at 25 mins 4 secs
71, Stefan Van Dijk (Accent Jobs-Wanty) at 25 mins 31 secs
72, Maurits Lammertink (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 25 mins 36 secs
73, Enzo Moyano (Caja Rural) at 26 mins 14 secs
74, Romain Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 26 mins 16 secs
75, Bartlomiej Matysiak (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 26 mins 35 secs
76, Marek Rutkiewicz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 27 mins 15 secs
77, Pablo Torres Muino (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 27 mins 16 secs
78, Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) at 27 mins 52 secs
79, Luca Paolini (Katusha) at 28 mins 34 secs
80, Daniel Schorn (Team NetApp-Endura) at 28 mins 47 secs
81, Darío Hernández (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 29 mins 10 secs
82, Yves Lampaert (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 29 mins 42 secs
83, Jarl Salomein (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 29 mins 49 secs
84, Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 30 mins 25 secs
85, José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Movistar Team) at 30 mins 42 secs
86, Michael Van Staeyen (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 30 mins 59 secs
87, Will Routley (Accent Jobs-Wanty) at 31 mins 3 secs
88, Sébastien Rosseler (Garmin-Sharp) at 31 mins 19 secs
89, Jurgen Van Goolen (Accent Jobs-Wanty) at 31 mins 23 secs
90, Jaroslaw Marycz (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 31 mins 24 secs
91, Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural) at 31 mins 59 secs
92, Jack Bobridge (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 32 mins 3 secs
93, Joost Van Leijen (Lotto Belisol) at 32 mins 12 secs
94, Luis Mas Bonet (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 33 mins 31 secs
95, Patrick Gretsch (Team Argos-Shimano) at 33 mins 48 secs
96, Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team) at 35 mins 55 secs
97, Yelko Gomez (Caja Rural) at 36 mins 49 secs
98, Jesus Del Pino Corrochano (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon) at 37 mins 45 secs
99, Mark Renshaw (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) at 37 mins 55 secs
100, Johan Van Summeren (Garmin-Sharp) at 38 mins 30 secs
101, Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Sharp) at 38 mins 45 secs
102, Adrian Kurek (CCC Polsat Polkowice) at 40 mins 0 secs
103, Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) at 41 mins 21 secs
104, Sander Helven (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise) at 44 mins 27 secs
105, Jacek Morajko (CCC Polsat Polkowice)
106, Cheng Ji (Team Argos-Shimano) at 44 mins 48 secs
107, Andy Cappelle (Accent Jobs-Wanty) at 45 mins 1 secs
108, Jonas Ahlstrand (Team Argos-Shimano) at 48 mins 10 secs
Mountains:
1, Tom Dumoulin (Team Argos-Shimano)
2, Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Cofidis, Solutions Credits)
3, Stef Clement (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
Points:
1, Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Movistar Team)
2, Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun)
3, Bauke Mollema (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
Sprints:
1, Luis Mas Bonet (Burgos BH-Castilla y Leon)
2, Tom Dumoulin (Team Argos-Shimano)
3, Stef Clement (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
Combination classification:
1, Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol)
2, Bauke Mollema (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
3, Bart De Clercq (Lotto Belisol)