Volta Catalunya: Valverde wins stage 3

Movistar's Alejandro Valverde climbed to victory in the third stage of the Volta a Catalunya Wednesday, besting Quick-Step Floors' Dan Martin in the closing metres of La Molina.

The Spaniard brought no shortage of motivation into the mountaintop finale after UCI commissaires penalised his entire Movistar team by one minute for the José Joaquín Rojas pushing incident during the stage 2 team time trial. The penalty denied Movistar the stage victory and also wiped out the advantage Valverde had gained over many of his top rivals with the team's performance against the clock, but Valverde clawed back some time at the La Molina summit.

Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), who finished three seconds behind Valverde and Martin with several other GC contenders, sits atop the GC after stage 3.

Despite the mountainous nature of the parcours – with three first-category ascents on the day's menu – most of the big guns kept their powder dry until the final moments of Wednesday's stage. Neither the Alt de Toses, the first official climb of the stage, nor the first of two trips up La Molina saw much action from the favourites, with Team Sky setting the pace in pursuit of the morning breakaway.

The early escapees were all reeled in with around eight kilometres left to race, leaving it to the reduced peloton to contest the win. None of the few attempted attacks from the group lasted long as Sky, Trek-Segafredo and Orica-Scott traded responsibility at the front, until Martin finally jumped away inside the final kilometre.

Valverde was quick to respond, jumping onto the Irishman's wheel and pulling even as they rounded the final corner before coming past in sight of the finish line. Most of the other top favuorites followed close behind, with Orica-Scott's Adam Yates leading a group that included van Garderen, Sky's Geraint Thomas and Trek's Alberto Contador to the finish three seconds later and Sky's Chris Froome crossing the line a further five seconds down.

How it unfolded

Wednesday's 188.3km stage got underway in Mataró under mostly clear skies, with BMC's Ben Hermans in the race lead after a controversial stage 2. Movistar was initially declared winner of the team time trial with José Joaquín Rojas appearing to be the race leader as the first rider across the line, but race commissaires decided to penalise the squad for Rojas' pushing of teammates at the back of the pace line during the 41.3km test. Ultimately, BMC were declared the stage 2 winners, putting Hermans atop the GC leaderboard.

Breakaway hopefuls were active trying to get clear from the opening moments of racing Wednesday, but it took some time for the main move to form as the peloton drove a hard pace for the first hour of racing.

Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Diego Rubio (Caja Rural) finally got away after 60 kilometres of racing. The bunch allowed the pace to slacken shortly thereafter, allowing the escapees to gradually grow their advantage on the long uphill run-in to the official start of the Alt de Toses.

The escapees began the ascent with a gap of nearly seven minutes, with BMC setting the pace in the bunch.

Ackermann lost touch on the long first-category climb, but the other three breakers plugged on, taking about five and a half minutes over the summit, with Berhane leading the way. Sky then took control of the bunch in the run-in to the first trip up La Molina, which spelled trouble for the breakers.

The gap tumbled considerably over the course of the ascent as Vasil Kiryienka set a hard, steady pace on the slopes. By the time the trio crested the summit, again led by Berhane, they led by just 1:20.

The breakers shot down the descent back towards the foot of the climb for one more trip up, but the bunch was not timid in pursuit. Pieter Weening tried to escape the peloton but was quickly reeled in.

Why the Sky-led peloton closing in, Berhane jumped clear on the lower slopes of the final climb. Serry and Rubio didn't follow, and it wasn't long before they were caught. Berhane's move was short-lived as well, however, with the pack making the catch roughly four minutes later, putting the stage win into play for the peloton.

Trek took to the front to help Sky with tempo-setting duties with around eight kilometres left to climb. UAE Team Emirates' Darwin Atapuma and Orica-Scott's Carlos Verona both tried to attack, but to no avail. The top GC favourites, meanwhile, mostly eyed each other, without any of the big guns launching a serious attack.

With fast-finishing Valverde primed to strike, Movistar took to the front with two kilometres to go as it became apparent that the stage might come down to the final push for the line. Martin jumped in the final kilometre, but Valverde was quick to respond, dispatching the Quick-Step rider in the final metres. 

Meanwhile in Catalunya... @Movistar_Team's @alejanvalverde makes a 14% ascent look like walk in the park. He wins S3 of #VoltaCatalunya pic.twitter.com/DBSKx4NN0s

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