Vuelta Murcia: Luis Leon Sanchez wins stage 2 ahead of Valverde

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Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) took the overall victory at the Vuelta Ciclista a la Region Murcia, with his win in the second and final stage. He beat world champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in a two-man sprint, with Mitchelton-Scott's Matteo Trentin coming in third.

Sanchez continued Astana's domination of the race, after the Kazakh team had finished first, second and third on stage 1. Valverde claimed second in GC, and Pello Bilbao, Sanchez' teammate and winner of the first stage, was third overall.

"First of all I have to say about a great team work today. All together we did a very nice and strong race. Yeah, it was quite difficult to control Valverde on the final climb, but I was able to follow him and later to control him inside the final kilometers. I did my best in the final and I am happy to take this win. It is an important result for me since this is my home race. But, the most important is the way we raced yesterday and today. That was really great!" said Sanchez.

Sanchez and Valverde had broken from the lead group on the final climb, with some 15km to go. Valverde went solo from the top of the climb, before Sanchez caught him again. As Sanchez crossed the finish line with a sizable gap, Valverde applauded his countryman and embraced him after crossing the finish line.

The Queen stage featured four ranked climbs, and it was destined to throw the GC upside down. A group of six riders got away early, and were later joined by four more. Their gap never got far above the one-minute mark.

Halfway through the stage came the day's biggest climb, the cat. 1 Alto Collado Bermejo. The approach saw Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott), Carlos Barbero (Movistar) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) jump from the field and move up. But this group fell apart on the climb, with Riccardo Zoidl taking a solo lead, before being joined by Howson and Fuglsang. Attack followed attack and the group and leaders changed constantly.

Fuglsang finally dropped the others and took off, only to have neo-pro Antonio Soto (Euskadi) join him. They were chased by an elite group of about 35, containing no less than five Movistar riders. The chase was successful and the large group took on the finale. The pace stayed high as the field barreled its way towards the day's final climb, the Alto Cresta de Gallo, only 12km from the finish.

Astana kept control of the group, not wanting to let anyone get away.

Movistar made its move on the climb, with fourth-ranked Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and third-ranked Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) attacking, both only three seconds down on GC. Just before the top, the Movistar ride took off solo, but Sanchez re-joined him in the final 2km. In the final kilometer, the two sprinted for the win, with Sanchez pulling past Valverde for a clear win to take the stage and the overall title.

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