Facing the showdown
19 February 2013

Vuelta a Andalucía (st. 3)

Alejandro Valverde and Movistar Team enter the final day in the 2013 Ruta del Sol with the leader's jersey, with six climbs still to be tackled on the Queen stage

Alejandro Valverde and Movistar Team are still in the lead of the 2013 Vuelta a Andalucía after stage two, a long run of 194km between Trebujena and Montilla marked by ominous weather, where Frenchman Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) imposed his top speed again after his success on Monday. Hivert outsprinted a big group coming together into the tricky finish, with two Cat. 3 climbs in the final 15k, the bunch including Valverde, Quintana, Moreno, Plaza and Rojas (7th into the stage). Movistar Team took once again full responsability into the main field during all stage with Iván Gutiérrez and Imanol Erviti, and is keeping both individual and team classifications under its command with just one day to go in the Ruta del Sol, the hardest one.

Wednesday’s stage will be a serious test for everyone, the 182 kilometers of continuous ups and downs from Lucena to Rincón de la Victoria including no less than six categorized climbs: the Cat. 3 Alto de la Corcoya in the opening phase and five others into the final 100k: El Torcal (Cat. 1), the Puerto del León (Cat. 1), Comares (Cat. 3), La Axarquía (Cat. 1) and La Pasa (Cat. 2), the latter one just 14k from the finish line.