Ruta del Sol: Valverde snatches victory from van Garderen

A devastating solo attack on the final summit finish of the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Cyclista del Sol by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) netted the veteran all-rounder his fourth ever overall victory in the Spanish stage race, one which he understandably described as "the most satisfying of them all."

After the Froome-Contador duel of 2015, the 2016 Vuelta a Andalucia has been hardly less spectacular, with Valverde largely responsible for a dramatic twist in the tail on the very last stage. "The other three were good wins," Valverde said, "but this was one special because it was getting very complicated, and my rivals were even tougher than usual. I knew I was going well, but not as well as this!"

Lying 22 seconds behind race leader Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) after the stage 4 time trial, Valverde and Movistar Team pulled out all the stops on the stage 5 summit finish to Peñas Blancas, a 14 kilometre ascent near the coastal town of Estepona and last tackled in a race in the Vuelta a España 2013.

Back in 2013, Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) had taken the overall lead of the Vuelta at Peñas Blancas. Roche once again launched one of the most powerful late attacks as the race tackled the fourth of the day’s five classified climbs in a clear attempt to soften up the opposition before the final ascent.

Having captured earlier breakaway Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Roche was reeled in at the foot of the climb, after which Team Sky with Vasil Kiryenka moved to the front ahead of van Garderen’s BMC Racing Team squad, which had done much of the spadework to keep the race under control until then.

Team Sky’s Mikel Nieve then launched a driving acceleration mid-climb, whittling down the lead group to just over a dozen. Nieve’s ferocious change of pace had many predicting an attack by his team-mate and Volta a Valencia winner Woet Poels. But instead, after Dani Moreno (Movistar Team) went briefly clear, it was Valverde who blasted out of the pack, seven kilometres from the summit.

"We knew we had to go early because that was the only way for Alejandro to get the overall lead as well as the stage," Jose Luis Arrieta, Movistar director, later explained to Cyclingnews.

In barely a kilometre, Valverde opened up a 15 second gap, as Brent Bookwater, van Garderen’s last support rider in the chase group, continued to lead the pursuit in the mini-peloton ahead of his team leader. Then a cheer arose from the Spanish fans at the summit as Valverde continued to increase his margin to 30 seconds, giving him an eight second gap on van Garderen and then steadily higher.

Van Garderen powered clear of the chase group himself with three kilometres to go, with only Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) able to follow. But as Valverde continued at a relentlessly steady pace, it was to prove too late for van Garderen to do more than limit the damage.

Valverde crossed the line without even raising his arms - he later said that he was not convinced he had the right time reference and wanted to be sure of his gap on van Garderen, by now suffering from attacks from Majka and Mollema and finally 48 seconds back. Finally, though, as the race speaker yelled out Valverde vencedor de la Vuelta a Andalucia, [Valverde, winner of the Vuelta a Andalucia] the veteran Movistar Team leader knew that he not only his seventh stage win in Andalucia, but also his fourth outright victory in five editions of the Spanish stage race in the bag.

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