VUELTA A ESPANA 2014 - stage 6 Alejandro Valverde moved back into pole position at the Vuelta a Espana when he won the first summit finish of the race at La Zubia. Valverde had enough finishing punch to edge out Chris Froome and Alberto Contador at the end of a thrilling stage contested fiercely by all of the races biggest names. The victory put him back into the leaders red jersey which he had ceded to Michael Matthews in Arcos de la Frontera three days ago. For much of the day, it seemed that the two-man break featuring Lotto-Belisols Pim Ligthart and Caja Rurals mountains leader Luis Mas Bonet might go all the way, but the pair were reeled on the brutal final ascent 3km away from glory. Apparently playing the role of back-up man, Valverde took on the pace-making for teammate Nairo Quintana with 2km left, the pair briefly discussing their tactics as their main GC rivals sat in behind them. Katushas Joaquim Rodríguez had been talked up as the favourite for the stage, so it was little surprise when he attacked with 700 metres left. For a few moments, it appeared that the little Spanish climber would stay clear of the select group behind, but Froome and Valverde both responded to the attack. More surprising was the performance of Contador, who has played down his GC hopes, but was right on their wheels. When Valverde surged inside the final 200 metres, Froome and Contador responded well but were unable to match the Movistar riders powerful acceleration. Both, though, finished in the same time as Valverde, who now leads Quintana by 15 seconds, Contador by 18 and Froome by 22. Valverde revealed he doesnt know whether hell be able to maintain his form through to the end of the race and challenge for the title, but expects Quintana to feature strongly on the mountain stages ahead. 1st Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE (spa) 2nd Christopher FROOME (GBr) 3rd Alberto CONTADOR VELASCO (spa) https://youtube/watch?v=hKF6a7bH2_Q&feature=player_embedded
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:56:32 +0000