Alejandro Valverde (Illes Balears) returned to competition in Sunday's Clásica a los Puertos, which was won by his teammate Xabier Zandio, who beat Carlos Castaño (Andalucia-Paul Versan) in a two man sprint. Valverde finished a creditable 10th, but doesn't consider himself in good enough shape for the Vuelta and will not start in Granada on Saturday.
"I had good feelings," he told AS. "I was always in front and that is positive. This has served for me to return to competition and to see a little improvement in the injury. The knee wasn't bad at all, but when forcing it on the Alto del León and Navacerrada and cooling down on the descent, it started to bother me. But OK, it's better than it was at the Tour."
