Izagirre wins Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana

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Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) won the final stage of the Vuelta a Comunitat Valenciana. The Dutchman beat Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) in the bunch sprint, with stage 2 winner Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) rounding out the podium.

Astana’s Ion Izagirre secured overall victory, after avoiding a mass pile-up in the peloton at the end of the stage, seven seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

It was a close-run thing at the finish line, with the top three separated by centimetres. The trio of sprinters was among a small group of riders who were at the head of the peloton in the final kilometre, thus avoiding the pile-up that took the majority out of the running for the stage win.

Coming around the final corner and on to the finishing straight, Groenewegen was perhaps the worst-positioned man of the big-name sprinters at the head of the group.

But with Kristoff and Trentin looking to contest the win in the closing metres, the Dutchman timed his burst from Nacer Bouhanni’s (Cofidis) wheel to just about pip the duo to the line.

How it happened

The final stage of the race, extremely short at 88km and pan flat, was always bound to bring a sprint finish. That didn’t deter a group of riders from chancing their arm in the breakaway, though.

Four riders got away after around 10km of racing, with Aaron Van Poucke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Gotzon Martin (Euskadi), and Alexey Kurbatov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) escaping before Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) joined them soon after.

Their gap maxed out at just over two minutes, but there was never any danger of them staying away until the end. Still, the peloton kept them on a short leash for much of the day, with the gap to the break held within 30 seconds to a minute inside the final 50km.

The peloton, of course, didn’t want to make the catch too early and risk counter-attacks ruining their sprint opportunities. Jumbo-Visma and Team Sky led the charge at the front of the peloton in the closing kilometres, eventually bringing the break back with 12km to go.

It looked set for a mass sprint showdown until a crash in the middle of the peloton put paid to the hopes of many. The GC victory of Izagirre was assured though, with the pile-up coming within the final 3km. However, the Spaniard was one of a few that avoided hitting the tarmac.

Still, a number of sprinters avoided the carnage to contest the win. Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) led the small group onto the final straight, with his teammate Matteo Trentin perfectly positioned in his wheel.

Kristoff and Bouhanni lay just behind, while Groenewegen was the seventh man in line. As Kristoff and Trentin launched their sprint to the line, the Dutchman rode Bouhanni’s wheel before powering around the group in the closing metres to take what seemed an unlikely win just seconds before. The win was his first of the season and put the disappointment of stage 2 well and truly behind him.

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