Valverde wins queen stage of Vuelta al Pais Vasco

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took one step closer to winning his first Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Friday, taking out the queen stage to Eibar over Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).

Valverde closed the gap to a late attack from Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) and Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates) near the summit of the climb, bringing along Bardet and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), who took third on the stage.

"I attacked and attacked, the others struggled, but I also suffered and it was difficult to create a gap," Valverde said of the final climb. "At the final stretch of the 'new' climb I decided to just set a steady pace, without any attacks, to catch Woods and Meintjes. That way, I could contest the sprint, where I knew I'd be the fastest.

"I knew the finish perfectly - one who doesn't do might have his doubts about how to tackle that final turn, on full steam or braking a bit before going for the final straight. I knew I had to go full gas, that's why I took the lead with 300m to go and never let anyone go ahead."

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) trailed across the line three seconds behind Woods and Meintjes, with Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Sergio Henao (Sky) and Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) a further dozen seconds down.

Overnight race leader David de la Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) lost contact on the steepest part of the final climb, but rallied to keep himself inside the top 10 overall, coming across the line 22 seconds behind Valverde.

Valverde now leads the race with one stage remaining, but on the same time with Bardet and Uran and facing a tough battle in the final stage, a 27.7km time trial on Saturday.

"A GC victory would be a huge plus for my palmarès, I can't deny I want to take it as I haven't got an Itzulia - but I'll feel happy all the same if I don't win," Valverde said. "I've claimed eight victories so far this year, two GCs, lots of second and third places - everything that happens now will not change my happiness. We also know that some good specialists are behind us, really close, and it will be tough to conserve the jersey.

"The key on tomorrow's TT route will be both the ascent and the flat after the Elgeta descent. You've got to climb fast and profit from that long downhill to recover because, even though there are some generous stretches into the flatter part to just throw your bike and not pedal, you'll also need some power on your legs to cope with some difficult sections. I know it well, I actually went on a recce of it last Friday, and today's finale went through some of its roads. I'm confident I can do well."

How it unfolded

The queen stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco would finally break up the stacked overall classification, with six classified climbs packed into the 139.8km on the route from Bilbo to Eibar, including the summit finish on the Usartzako. The peloton departed without Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), who was suffering from a sore knee after a crash on stage 3, and Contador had to chase through the neutral section after having a puncture.

With such a short stage, it took a while for a breakaway to form, but eventually a large group skipped off the front

Omar Fraile, Ben King and Adrien Niyonshuti (Dimension Data), Amael Moinard and Danilo Wyss (BMC), Matej Mohoric and Kristijan Durasek (UAE Team Emirates), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Juan Jose Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo), Laurens ten Dam (Sunweb), Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal), Alex Howes and Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale), Luis Mas (Caja Rural), Mathias Leturnier and Yoann Bagot (Cofidis).

Niyonshuti was dropped on the Puerto de Pagatza, the first category 2 climb, before mountains classification leader Howes missed out on the maximum points to Montaguti. Mas claimed the sprint classification points, moving back into the lead of the rankings over teammate Jonathan Lastra. The breakaway’s gap, which had only been 1:50 at the biggest, was already coming down as the mountain-packed second half of the stage approached.

On the second climb, Fraile attacked to take the lead on the second climb of the category 1 Izua. The move drew out ten Dam and Skujins, but the peloton was soon in sight, and swept past the two with 54km to go before the next climb.

Orica-Scott set a brisk tempo on the second ascent of the Izua, with race leader De La Cruz tucked safely behind their train surrounded by his Quick-Step teammates.

Orica continued to throttle the pace on the penultimate category 3 Urkaregi, putting Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) briefly into touch of trouble when he suffered a mechanical and had to get a new bike. But the Pole caught back on before the top, just as Lotto Soudal’s Tosh van der Sande attacked - a move that was quickly reeled in.

The peloton rolled along, status quo, until 5km to go when Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) attacked on the final climb. The move didn’t work but did serve to spark a counter attack from Valverde, Henao and Contador that he could just latch onto.

The quartet dangled just ahead of the peloton, still led by Orica-Scott.

Valverde sensed the catch, and attacked with 4.3km to go, but the effort was too soon. A brief ease and the four were caught, but Woods was not ready to give up - he countered the move and got away with 4km to go.

The Valverde group kept him in sight, but de la Cruz lost contact behind, giving up half a minute, but fought his way back to the riders ahead. Meanwhile, Meintjes had clicked off the front and joined the Canadian with 3.3km to go.

But a surge from Valverde reeled the pair in with 2.4km to go before the crest of the climb with the other main favourites on his wheel.

The Movistar rider then timed his sprint perfectly to take out the stage and the race lead.

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