Movistar rider up to second overall behind Contador
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Alejandro Valverde leads Sergio Henao and Gorka Verdugo to the finish line.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) couldn't match the pace of Joaquim Rodriguez and Alberto Contador near the summit finish.(Image credit: Sirotti)
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished in third place on stage 12, 13 seconds in arrears of Joaquim Rodriguez.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Alejandro Valverde sprints for the line on stage 15(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Although Alberto Contador received most of the media attention after Wednesday’s spectacular attack en route to Fuente Dé, Alejandro Valverde performed no less well, charging away from the crumbling Joaquim Rodríguez group to move up to second overall at the Vuelta a España.
The Movistar rider had settled for third in Madrid prior to Wednesday, but his tenacious counter-attack saw him come within six seconds of catching Contador on the stage and move up one place overall. It also re-confirmed Movistar’s domination of the teams classification.
"I’ve done a good job and I’m pleased," Valverde - who only came to the Vuelta as a last-minute replacement as leader for Juan Jose Cobo, who had fallen ill - said afterwards.
"Contador caught us all napping and it was impossible to catch him. But getting two and a half minutes on 'Purito', plus the time bonus - that’s good."
Valverde said that Contador attacked on the second category Collado de la Hoz, "and we were always 10 to 15 seconds down on him, but where the gap really started to open up was on the descent."
"My race was different to theirs, because I was going fine because I could drop [Chris] Froome." - on paper, his challenger for the third spot overall.
After dropping Rodríguez "I never thought I could catch Contador, but on the first hard section of climb, I went for it anyway, thinking about the overall more than anything else. I’m sorry for 'Purito', but racing is like that."
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Overall, as Valverde said, "it’s almost impossible to improve on such a good result for us. We had Rodríguez two minutes ahead of us and now we’re ahead of him."
"It’s been a very tough day, but even so it’s been perfect for us, although I’d like tomorrow to be easier, please!"
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
