Treble wins marked the day for Alejandro Valverde, as the Spanish rider went on to win his third successive victory in this year’s Vuelta a Andalucía today.
How the Race Happened
A breakaway group containing Tim Wellens, Romain Zingle, Branislau Samoilau, Andrey Zeits, Jordi Simón, Markel Irizar and Simon Geschke, got underway early in today’s stage.
After establishing a gap of nearly four minutes over the peloton, team Movistar began ushering it’s riders to the front in order to start reeling in the escapees. Shortly thereafter, Samoilau and Simon fell off the pace and were subsequently absorbed by the chase. At that point, the gap for the remaining five riders had been reduced to around two minutes.
Upon reaching the base of the final climb, Team Sky took over the pace setting – with Bradley Wiggins leading the front. From there, Wiggins’ was successful in shedding a good many riders along the climb – ultimately leaving Valverde isolated with only one teammate to cover him – Jon Izagirre.
By the time the peloton reached the final kilometers of the stage, there were only very select few riders remaining in the front group. However, despite a number of last minute attacks, Valverde managed to make his way up to the front, and with a final acceleration through the last corner – he succeeded in capturing the victory.
Luis Leon Sanchez hung onto Valverde’s coat tails to take second place, while Daniel Navarro finished in third after launching a number of attacks in the final 500 meters.
Despite his team’s best efforts, Richie Porte had to settle for fifth place, and now sits 20 seconds behind Valverde in the general classification.
Stage 1 Results
ESP 1 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) 5:08:57
NED 2 MOLLEMA, Bauke (BELKIN) + 4 ITA 3 REBELLIN, Davide (CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE) AUS 4 PORTE, Richie (SKY) ESP 5 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) FRA 6 SIMON, Julien (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 11 ESP 7 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 12 ESP 8 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) + 15 BEL 9 DEGAND, Thomas (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) + 16 EST 10 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) + 17 ITA 11 SCARPONI, Michele (ASTANA) + 19 ITA 12 TIRALONGO, Paolo (ASTANA) ESP 13 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 21 NED 14 LINDEMAN, Bertjan (RABOBANK DEVELOPMENT) + 23 ESP 15 GARCIA, Marcos (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) ESP 16 TXURRUKA, Amets (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) BEL 17 DE GREEF, Francis (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) NOR 18 NORDHAUG, Lars Petter (BELKIN) ESP 19 MINGUEZ AYALA, Miguel (EUSKADI) ESP 20 MATE MARDONES, Luis Angel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) GBR 21 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 30 BEL 22 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO BELISOL) + 34 BEL 23 ZINGLE, Romain (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) FRA 24 BAGOT, Yohan (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 36 BEL 25 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO BELISOL) ESP 26 PARDILLA BELLON, Sergio (MTN – QHUBEKA) ESP 27 ARROYO DURAN, David (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) + 44 POL 28 PATERSKI, Maciej (CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE) + 51 ESP 29 MORENO BAZAN, Javier (MOVISTAR) POL 30 MARCZYNSKI, Tomasz (CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE) + 53 ESP 31 MEGIAS LEAL, Javier (NOVO NORDISK) + 55 GBR 32 KENNAUGH, Peter (SKY) BEL 33 LIETAER, Eliot (TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN – BALOISE) BEL 34 DE CLERCQ, Bart (LOTTO BELISOL) + 59 GER 35 GESCHKE, Simon (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 1:00 BEL 36 SEELDRAEYERS, Kevin (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) + 1:02 BEL 37 VANDEWALLE, Kristof (TREK FACTORY RACING) BEL 38 VANENDERT, Jelle (LOTTO BELISOL) + 1:49 BLR 39 KIRYIENKA, Vasil (SKY) + 1:57 BLR 40 SAMOILAU, Branislau (CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE)
General Classification after Stage 1 ESP 1 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) 5:17:19 AUS 2 PORTE, Richie (SKY) + 19 ESP 3 SANCHEZ GIL, Luis Leon (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) + 21 ESP 4 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) + 24 ESP 5 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 37 EST 6 KANGERT, Tanel (ASTANA) + 38 NED 7 MOLLEMA, Bauke (BELKIN) + 39 FRA 8 SIMON, Julien (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 40 ITA 9 REBELLIN, Davide (CCC POLSAT POLKOWICE) + 43 GBR 10 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 44 BEL 11 DEGAND, Thomas (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) + 46 NED 12 LINDEMAN, Bertjan (RABOBANK DEVELOPMENT) + 50 ITA 13 TIRALONGO, Paolo (ASTANA) + 53 NOR 14 NORDHAUG, Lars Petter (BELKIN) BEL 15 DE GREEF, Francis (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) + 54 ESP 16 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) BEL 17 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO BELISOL) + 55 BEL 18 ZINGLE, Romain (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 59 ITA 19 SCARPONI, Michele (ASTANA) + 1:01 ESP 20 TXURRUKA, Amets (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) + 1:02
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