Report: Alejandro Valverde beats Wiggins in Vuelta a Andalucía TT

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Alejandro Valverde repeats 2013 performance at opening prologue in the Vuelta a Andalucía beating Wiggins by 14 seconds

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The 60th Vuelta a Andalucía started off with a bang for the Endura clad Movistar rider as Alejandro Valverde who will wear the leader’s jersey on Thursday, following a convincing win in the 7.3km opening prologue in the outskirts of Almería. Valverde crossed the finish with a seven-second margin over Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (GIA), who had beaten Movistar’s Izagirre.

Movistar 1-3 beats Team Sky’s 3-4-5
The Spaniard team Movistar showed good form at start of the day thanks to good performances from Javi Moreno (8th) taking the hotseat before his teammate Ion Izagirre, was able to beat the Sky trio of Vasil Kiryienka, Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas by four seconds.

Alejandro Valverde: “I’m the first one who’s surprised about this result, not only because of the win but also due to the time gaps against such rivals, in such a short TT.”

“It’s true that I had already won last year in front of strong guys, but the field competing here, especially in terms of time trial performance, was really hard to beat. I knew I was doing well with my form, but I didn’t know how good.”

“Profiting from our training camp in Almería, we came here on Monday to try the course. We reconnoited it twice and I rode through it this morning with closed roads. I quite liked it because it had some pace changes. It was the first time on my new TT bike and this debut was impossible to improve.”

“We’re very satisfied with how it works – we did ride on them for several days in the Circuit of Almería, that was crucial because it was our first time on them and we had to accustom ourselves to the measures, the geometry… I’m back in the lead here, but there’s a really hard race ahead of us.”

“We’ll go day by day, trying to keep the team together and doing well. The rivals will have to better us and we’ll make it hard for them. I didn’t prepare myself really hard to perform well this early in the season, but as I always say, it’s easy for me to get into racing form, and the previous months, apart from some days with high fever after Dubai, didn’t mean any troubles for me.”

It is a difficult test tomorrow with a demanding stage – 178km — from Vélez Málaga to Jaén- with a total six categorized climbs and an exhausting finale through Locubín (Cat-2), Valdepeñas (Cat-2) and up to the finish at the Castillo de Santa Catalina (Cat-3.)

RESULT
1 VALVERDE BELMONTE Alejandro Movistar Team 08:22
2 DUMOULIN Tom Team Giant-Shimano 00:07
3 IZAGIRRE Ion Movistar Team 00:09
4 KIRYIENKA Vasil Team Sky 00:13
5 THOMAS Geraint Team Sky 00:14
6 WIGGINS Bradley Team Sky
7 PORTE Richie Team Sky 00:15
8 MORENO Javier Movistar Team
9 GESCHKE Simon Team Giant-Shimano 00:16
10 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE Haimar Trek Factory Racing

13 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald Team Sky 00:19
14 KITTEL Marcel Team Giant-Shimano 00:20
21 KENNAUGH Peter Team Sky 00:24
31 HENDERSON Greg Lotto Belisol 00:29
60 CIOLEK Gerald MTN – Qhubeka 37
79 VOIGT Jens Trek Factory Racing 00:44

 

 

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