Vuelta a Espana stage 7: Valverde wins as Lopez takes back red

MAS DE LA COSTA, Spain (VN) — A burst of speed at the perfect moment again brought Alejandro Valverde across the line in first place, as the reigning world champion won Friday’s seventh stage of the Vuelta a España.

Valverde, 39, raced alongside men more than a decade his junior up the super-steep Mas de la Costa climb, and then sprinted by them to take his 12th career Vuelta a España stage. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) finished a close second, while Miguel Ángel López (Astana) crossed the line in third place to take back the red leader’s jersey.

“I can’t believe I had the legs to finish it off. I continue to surprise myself at my age,” Valverde said. “Most are retired but I still have the same dreams to race and the same motivation.”

Valverde’s sprint came after a brutal battle up the Mas de la Costa climb, which is 4km in length and averages nearly 13 percent, with ramps surpassing 20 percent. Valverde followed the wheel of teammate Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who put in a series of accelerations on the lower flanks of the climb to draw out Roglic and Lopez, with the other GC favorites pedaling behind.

The four riders build a sizable gap on the other contenders by the midpoint of the climb under accelerations from Quintana and Roglic, as Valverde and Lopez hung on the back. Valverde appeared to be the weakest of the four, and looked to lose pace at several points during the ascent, only to claw back on.

“It was a very difficult climb but the team was committed to the chase and Nairo did a great job to attack and put us in position to win,” Valverde said.

The climb was last used during the 2016 Vuelta a España, when Mathias Frank won from a breakaway.

For the 2019 edition, organizers placed the steep climb at the end of a mountainous 187-kilometer stage, that packed five categorized climbs into the second half. A 10-rider move separated after 50 kilometers, with a handful of strong riders looking to content for the stage win on the hilly course.

Present in the move were Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Cyril Barthe (Euskadi-Murias), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale), Michael Storer (Mitchelton-Scott) and Sebastian Henao (Team Ineos).

The group stayed together for the lion’s share of the day, however it splintered on the category 2 climb up the Puerto del Salto del Caballo, with Gilbert and Marczynski going clear.

Behind, Astana upped the tempo and quickly cut into the advantage, which had shrunk to 51 seconds with just 8 km to go. The gap was down to 15 seconds by the time the duo hit the final climb.

Valverde’s win boosted him into third place in the overall, just 16 seconds behind Lopez and 10 seconds behind Roglic. Quintana is now fourth, 27 seconds in arrears.