Valverde wins the last stage and takes the overall in Andalucia
Alejandro Valverde came into the final stage of the Ruta del Sol 22 seconds behind race leader Tejay van Garderen in the general classification, but that wasn’t enough to keep him down. The Movistar cyclist launched a powerful attack seven kilometers from the line on the Peñas Blancas climb and didn’t look back, ultimately winning the stage and finishing a cool 48 seconds ahead of van Garderen to take his fourth career Ruta del Sol title.
Van Garderen made a strong late chase but failed to pull back enough time. He eventually cracked after his huge effort and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) atackedchim to take second on the stage, 25 seconds behind Valverde. He gained enough time to secure third place overall at 52 seconds. Van Garderen managed to hang to second overall, finishing 26 seconds down on the Spaniard.
Vuelta a Andalucia 2016 – stage 5 results (San Roque – Peñas Blancas):
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) |
4:46:51 |
| 2 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) |
+36” |
| 3 | Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) |
+42” |
| 4 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) |
+48” |
| 5 | Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) |
+1’07” |
| 6 | Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) |
+1’08” |
| 7 | Wilco Kelderman (LottoNl-Jumbo) |
+1’16” |
| 8 | Igor Anton (Dimension Data) |
+1’19” |
| 9 | Mikel Nieve (Sky) |
+1’27” |
| 10 | Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) |
+1’30” |
Final general classification:
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) |
17:41:10 |
| 2 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) |
+26” |
| 3 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) |
+52” |
| 4 | Wilco Kelderman (LottoNl-Jumbo) |
+56” |
| 5 | Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) |
+1’11” |
| 6 | Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff) |
+1’37” |
| 7 | Wout Poels (Sky) |
+1’42” |
| 8 | Brent Bookwalter (BMC) |
+2’03” |
| 9 | Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) |
+2’14” |
| 10 | Mikel Nieve (Sky) |
+2’45” |
