Alejandro Valverde bounced back from yesterday’s chaotic race, to claim stage 6 of this year’s Vuelta a Espana today.
The Spanish rider was setting the pace for his teammate Nairo Quintana during the short, steep final climb of the day, when Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodríguez, attacked in the final 700 meters. And, from there, it looked like Rodriguez was poised to win the stage, when Chris Froome and Valverde responded to the attack, along with Alberto Contador who was tucked in right behind them.
However, it was Valverde who succeeded with final surge inside the last final 200 meters, that proved to be enough to distance his rivals, as Froome and Contador struggled to try and stay onboard – while Rodríguez dropped completely from view at the front.
As a result of today’ victory, Valverde now leads Quintana by 15 seconds, with Contador third at 19 seconds back and Froome in fourth a further 4 seconds behind.
Stage 6 Results ESP 1 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) 4:35:27 GBR 2 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) ESP 3 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) ESP 4 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 8 COL 5 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 12 ITA 6 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 18 COL 7 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 25 ESP 8 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) ESP 9 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 32 NED 10 GESINK, Robert (BELKIN) + 33 FRA 11 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT-SHIMANO) ESP 12 PARDILLA BELLON, Sergio (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 40 NED 13 TEN DAM, Laurens (BELKIN) + 44 NED 14 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) ESP 15 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) + 47 ITA 16 CARUSO, Damiano (CANNONDALE) + 56 COL 17 ANACONA GOMEZ, Winner (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 59 IRL 18 MARTIN, Daniel (GARMIN SHARP) COL 19 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 1:04 GBR 20 YATES, Adam (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 1:07 ESP 21 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) FRA 22 SICARD, Romain (EUROPCAR) + 1:15 FRA 23 ELISSONDE, Kenny (FDJ.fr) + 1:19 GER 24 NERZ, Dominik (BMC RACING) + 1:23 ESP 25 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 1:25 FRA 26 COPPEL, Jerome (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 1:31 POR 27 CARDOSO, Andre Fernando S. Martins (GARMIN SHARP) + 1:39 BEL 28 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO BELISOL) + 1:43 NZL 29 BENNETT, George (CANNONDALE) FRA 30 LE MEVEL, Christophe (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 1:48 ESP 31 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) ESP 32 ARROYO DURAN, David (CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA) + 1:53 POL 33 NIEMIEC, Przemyslaw (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 1:54 FRA 34 BOUET, Maxime (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:57 SUI 35 ZAUGG, Oliver (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 2:12
General Classification after Stage 6 ESP 1 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) 22:48:08 COL 2 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 15 ESP 3 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 18 GBR 4 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 22 COL 5 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 41 ESP 6 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquin (KATUSHA) + 45 NED 7 GESINK, Robert (BELKIN) + 55 ITA 8 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 58 FRA 9 BARGUIL, Warren (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 1:02 NED 10 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) + 1:06 ESP 11 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 1:09 ESP 12 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) + 1:11 ITA 13 CARUSO, Damiano (CANNONDALE) + 1:12 COL 14 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 1:18 ESP 15 PARDILLA BELLON, Sergio (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 1:19 ESP 16 NAVARRO GARCIA, Daniel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 1:26 IRL 17 MARTIN, Daniel (GARMIN SHARP) + 1:37 ESP 18 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) + 1:47 COL 19 ANACONA GOMEZ, Winner (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 1:57 ESP 20 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 2:06
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