Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (st. 3)

World Champion from Movistar Team -well covered by his team-mates- stays in the mix before Saturday’s Queen stage; Nelsok Oliveira now 4th overall, with Alejandro in 6th

4-10-3-8-12-4. Those are the results obtained in his first six racing days this year by Alejandro Valverde, who found strong support in his Movistar team-mates to chase another top result in Friday’s lumpy stage three of the 2019 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2019 -194km from Quart de Poblet to Chera-.

The World champion finished behind Greg van Avermaet (CCC, 1st), Matteo Trentin (MTS, 2nd) and Luis León Sánchez (AST, 3rd) in an atypical sprint finish, following a series of steady, yet gentle climbs in the last 15km, including the Sot de Chera (Cat-3) and the Salto de la Mora (Cat-3). A four-man attack into the final climb, followed by Nelson Oliveira, tried to split the group before the finish, yet Valverde, helped out by the Portuguese allrounder as well as Rubén Fernández and Héctor Carretero in the finale, stayed strong in the finale and could get into a sprint against more powerful finish to remain 14″ behind race leader Edvald Boasson Hagen (DDD) in the GC.

Oliveira now sits in 4th spot overall -with Alejandro in 6th- before Saturday’s Queen, decisive stage in eastern Spain, a 188km route through the Castellón province, starting in Vila-real and finishing atop the Ermita de Santa Llúcia in Alcossebre (Cat-3) after another three categorized climbs.

Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport