Valverde just one second short to GC lead atop La Covatilla
02 September 2018

Vuelta a España (et. 9)

Alejandro Valverde struggles into final slopes of Béjar climb, remains in 2nd place as Yates (MTS) climbs onto Vuelta a España leadership. Nairo Quintana -now 3rd- shows good legs.

A sigh’s distance from rounding off a stellar start to the 2018 Vuelta a España. The Movistar Team knocked on the door of the Spanish Grand Tour’s overall lead with Alejandro Valverde in yet another demanding stage, over high climbs, under high temperatures and against gusty winds during the 200km route between Talavera and La Covatilla’s ski station.

It was an overall brilliant job from the Blues, from the very beginning of the stage. Daniele Bennati and Imanol Erviti faced the winds and offered Groupama-FDJ a late helping hand to control the gaps with the break -an eleven-man attempt coming close to 10′ of advantage and serving as launchpad to Ben King’ (DDD) second stage victory in the race-. Amador, Anacona and Oliveira fought to stay at the front with their leaders into the approach to the closing climb and the Candelario cobbled slope. And in the finale, an excellent Richard Carapaz covered some gaps and offered luxury support to both ‘Bala’ and Nairo Quintana, who started showing his good legs with a move just under 2km from the end.

The ‘Cóndor’ led home, alongside Miguel López (AST), a leading quartet of top guns, with 9″ over Simon Yates… and 24″ on Valverde, who struggled to keep the pace in the final section and conceded fifteen seconds to the Briton, who had started the day 14″ behind the Spaniard. Alejandro thus retains, after Rudy Molard (GFC) cracked and went out of the top of the leaderboard, his second place overall, as Quintana jumps onto 3rd (+14″) before Monday’s first rest day in Salamanca.

REACTION:

Alejandro Valverde: “I think it was my best climb to La Covatilla as a professional. Plus, there really wasn’t a GC contender above the rest day, rather than small groups and little difference. Should I have been able to maintain that extra intensity for maybe four, five more seconds, I’d have surely stayed with that front group. I felt good, to be honest – the legs didn’t feel bad at all during the day and neither did during the final climb. However, it was a demanding stage from the beginning and everyone was put into danger at some point. We can just congratulate Yates and stay happy with what we’ve got so far. I’m in second place, 1″ short of the leader’s jersey, and there’s so much left in this race. The most important thing is that Nairo was ahead with the main GC contenders. What did we say before the race? The team leader is Nairo. I just came here to get some good results, and I’ve got two stage victories so far. I’d have liked to wear the red jersey, but it will also be less of a responsibility at the front of the bunch for my team-mates in this position.”

Nairo Quintana: “I felt good and the team was always really focused on working well for us during the stage. La Covatilla turned out to be a very particular climb: there were strong headwinds, you could stay on the others’ wheel without any effort, and the high temperatures all day affected several riders. We saw little gaps forming up, against rivals that matter much to us GC-wise, and those little moments when we struggled during the ascent ended up being not so bad thanks to Richard’s impressive job. He really helped us a lot. Yates will surely try to defend his leader’s jersey in the upcoming week, while we must look for the next day when we can take our chances and gain some terrain.”

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net / Movistar Team